Why powerplants are the key to climate change

Summary

Powerplants produce 40% of the U.S. emissions and fully electric vehicles would reduce emissions another 22% - meaning that clean electricity can replace another 22% of the U.S.A's emissions. Since time is of the essence, we should start with the easiest and most cost effective solutions first and it is much easier and cost effective to reduce emissions at a few power plants than it is to replace hundreds of millions of cars.

Furthermore, every country needs powerplants so any technology developed to reduce power plant emissions can be used around the entire world whereas electric cars are only a big part of developed nations. 

Related Articles: How Kotoo's investments reduce emissions

Details

To understand how to reduce the United States' emissions, it's helpful to look at the source of the United States' emissions. Broadly speaking emissions come from the following categories in approximate order of size: electricity and heat, construction, freight, personal cars, food production, aviation, and deforestation.

Some of these categories are dominated by business activity, with businesses ultimately accounting for 67% of all U.S. emissions. But those businesses are ultimately building and selling a product to individuals and thus contributing to an individuals emissions without them even knowing. This ends up dwarfing the impact of options a person has left: buying an electric car (expensive), changing their diet (difficult), and planting trees (low-overall impact).

However, there is good news here as well. While there are millions of people and thousands of businesses, there are only three categories generating the majority of U.S. emissions: transportation, electricity generation, and manufacturing. Those three sectors, accounting for 62% of all emissions, can all operate on electricity. Therefore, if we can reduce their emissions from electricity generation then we would reduce U.S. emissions 62%!

Further good news is that we have the technology ready today to dramatically lower emissions from electricity by replacing coal power plants with natural gas power plants and natural gas power plants with solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal, and nuclear (if necessary). The only problem is that we have enough power generation facilities already built and operating that capitalism makes people reluctant to spend money building new ones. But time is running out. If we wait for existing facilities to wear out - emissions will have accumulated to the point that we'll be locked into the consequences of global warming.

So how do we get power plants to stop operating their existing facilities? And how do we make sure that the most polluting ones stop first? In short - we put a price on emissions. Power plants looking to save money will then try to operate as cleanly as possible to minimize emissions related expenses. They'll find the technology that helps lower their emissions as quick as possible in a way that is optimal for their facility.

Some state governments are already doing this - but it's not happening very fast - Kotoo helps to accelerate the transition away from emissions by raising the price of emissions from power plants which also raises funds for new renewable energy generation. Since it's done at a huge scale and with readily available and moderately mature technology - it is much more cost effective than buying a personal electric car (new technology) and addresses the primary source of U.S. emissions. And we have data to show that it works. We just need it to work a little faster. 

For more information on how exactly our investments work - we recommend checking out the following page: