Greening Heat and Power: An Integrated Approach to Decarbonizing Energy

Abstract

Humankind has depended on carbon-based fuels for millennia—but evidence has been mounting that runaway increases in carbon-intensive activity have set in motion potentially devastating climatic effects. To avoid the most extreme consequences of climate instability, it is essential for infrastructure sectors to “decarbonize”—that is, to turn from dependence on coal, oil, and natural gas toward renewable power sources (especially green ones)—and do so within a narrowing window of time.¹