Dec 12, 2019 - Energy & Climate
Leaky power grids are a huge source of carbon emissions
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Leaky power grids that waste energy before it reaches consumers are an often overlooked source of carbon emissions, per The Conversation.
What they did: Researchers calculated the pollution from additional energy needed to make up for what's lost in transmission and distribution systems worldwide.
- The experts with Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland tallied "compensatory emissions" based on generation sources and grid quality in different countries.
What they found: It's big when you add it all up.
- The losses also vary a lot by country, notes the piece derived from a recent paper in the journal Nature Climate Change.
- "In 2016, aggregate transmission and distribution losses reached 19% in India and 16% in Brazil," they note.
- They were over 50% in Haiti, Iraq, and the Republic of Congo, which "means that only half of the electricity generated reached or was billed to the consumers as usable power."
What's next: They call for greater attention to stemming emissions through use of better tech and infrastructure upgrades.
- Various ways to lower energy loss include replacing inefficient transmission wires, using superconductors to reduce resistance in transmission wires, and configuring distribution lines in a better way.
