SUMMARY:
Wind and solar energy may not have any direct fuel costs but they do rely on the use of fossil fuels for their manufacture, installation and maintenance. So even renewables do not achieve true CO2 neutrality.
Electric power generation is responsible for roughly one quarter of a Nation’s CO2 emissions. The remaining three-fourths is emitted from space heating, transport and industry. Meaning the fuels used for electricity generation alone only affect a small part of a nation's CO2 emissions.
DETAILS:
Government actions to limit CO2 emissions are mainly mandating changes in the fuels used to generate electrical power. The Green thinking requires the substitution for fossils fuels, replacing them with nominally “CO2 emissions free” fuels -- wind, solar, biomass(?) and biofuels(?).
-- These fuel substitution policies have done harm to the reliability of electric power grids in South Australia and California.
-- The burning of biomass (wood) is designated as “CO2 neutral". But burning wood substantially increases the output of CO2 emissions and destroys natural environments.
-- The engineering, mining and manufacturing requirements for solar panels and wind turbines cause very significant CO2 emissions.
-- Burning wood releases much more CO2 than other fossil fuels, (coal, lignite, and especially natural gas.
-- Burning wood destroys virgin forest environments that would take 50 to 100 years to restore.
-- Wood pellets used for electric power require significant heat energy to dry and process the harvested wood material before converting it into the pellets.
-- Wood pellets require significant fossil fuel use for long distance transport from the US and elsewhere to Europe.
-- Burning wood, with its excessive CO2 burden, cancels out any CO2 reductions that might be achieved by the use of solar and wind power in both the U.K. and Germany.
The lowest CO2 emissions for the power produced by fossil duels results from burning natural gas, which can be derived from franking. Fracking and substitution of natural gas for coal led to CO2 emission reductions in the U.S. Because all forms of coal produce roughly twice as much CO2 for the power they produce when compared to natural gas.
The transition from coal to natural gas for electric power generation reduced U.S. CO2 emissions ~-20% since 2005. The U.S. now produces less than 15% of Global CO2 emissions, down from ~22% in the year 2000, a reduction of ~4.7%.
The massive use of nuclear energy gives France the lowest CO2 emissions per person of any developed nation. France now produces less than 1% of Global CO2 emissions, down from ~1.5% in 1990.
Germany's “die Energiewende policy”, since 2011, led to ~102GW of wind and solar capacity. Those renewables yield ~28% of German power on average. Germany is still dependent on CO2 emitting fuels for its electricity:
German CO2 emissions are still 87% above the global average and the highest of the EU(28) ~30% above the EU average.
Wind power onshore and offshore and solar make up over 64% of the installed German capacity, but unreliably contribute only ~28% of the electric power produced.
