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Energy requirements and carbon emissions for a low-carbon energy transition

By: Giorgos Kallis, Daniel W. O’Neill, Aljoša Slameršak

Achieving the Paris Agreement will require massive deployment of low-carbon energy. However, constructing, operating, and maintaining a low-carbon energy system will itself require energy, with much of it derived from fossil fuels. This raises the concern that the transition may consume much of the energy available to society, and be a source of considerable emissions. Here we calculate the ene...