How ‘Green’ Is Green—An Overview of Carbon Emissions From Clean Energy Resources

摘要

>The development and use of renewable energy resources in response to climate change has received significant public attention due to recent climate activism, as well as various proposals put forth by politicians and elected officials. Clearly, there is increasing interest and desire among many, including the clean energy sector, the general public, environmentalists, and public officials, to name a few, to expand and increase the use of clean energy resources to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the use of fossil fuels. Consider the politicizing of climate change and clean energy by the Democratic presidential candidates. Some have gone as far as to call for a renewable/net‐zero carbon emissions economy in their energy plans. These goals, though laudable, raise two issues worthy of discussion—the reality of achieving a fossil‐free future from where we currently are in 2019, and determining how truly “green” we can be with our current technologies in terms of large‐scale adoption of renewable technologies in order to reduce carbon emissions.