147. Five Key Transformations Required to Achieve Net-Zero in the U.S.

During President Biden’s first year in office, his administration published a document titled “The Long-Term Strategy of the United States: Pathways to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050.” The document says all viable routes to net-zero involve five key transformations. They are: • Decarbonize electricity. • Electrify end uses and switch to other clean fuels. • Cut energy waste. • Reduce methane and other non-CO2 emissions. • Scale up CO2 removal. Which of the key transformations will play the biggest role in reaching the U.S.’s net-zero goal is still up for debate. “The first step—decarbonize electricity—is critical and may be one of the most important steps in achieving net-zero emissions,” Brendan O’Brien, business development manager, and strategy and sales leader with Burns & McDonnell, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “That transition is going to include a lot of things that we’re probably familiar with today, like clean energy driven by solar and wind, but also it’ll look to the future for decarbonized technologies and decarbonized solution.” O’Brien noted that the U.S. is targeting 100% clean energy by 2035, and he suggested the transition is already well underway. “It’s been occurring and even accelerating in recent years,” he said. “It’s been driven by plummeting costs in key technologies, like solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, and batteries, which you’re seeing more and more as deployed technology of the utilities in the United States. All that’s being bolstered by policies and regulation that has been enacted by various governments. And then also—the final—the big push is really coming from the consumer. More and more consumers are demanding clean energy and clean power, and the power generation market in the United States has been reacting to it.” Complexity is added to the equation with the second key transformation, that is, electrifying end uses. O’Brien said the transportation sector’s shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles will require a 65% increase in power