Many electricity utilities are announcing voluntary carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction goals for emissions from their generating units. Utilities with such goals accounted for at least 80% of electric sector CO2 emissions as of the year 2000. In addition, several states now have policies or proposed policies requiring electric sector decarbonization in their jurisdiction by 2050 or earlier. This technical update investigates the implications for U.S.-wide electric sector CO2 emissions if all utilities meet their stated goals, and if all states meet their stated targets. The results also include high level estimates of the dollars per ton implicit costs of reaching these targets given current technology costs, fuel costs, and other assumptions.
Authors David Young