Wind, concentrated solar crush nuclear, ethanol, filthy coal
December 15th, 2008 by Jim JustStanford professor Mark Jacobson has published a study which compares the global warming consequences of different energy alternatives.
Joseph Romm has posted this chart at Climate Progress. Wind and concentrated solar power are the best, hands down. CCS (carbon capture and storage, or the oxymoronic “clean coal”, is by far the filthiest)
In addition to global warming, the paper looks at other factors, too: air pollution mortality, and energy security, water supply, land use, wildlife, resource availability, thermal pollution, water chemical pollution, nuclear proliferation, and undernutrition. As this chart (posted at Gristmill) shows, cellulosic ethanol is the worst, with corn ethanol right behind:
The study, “Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security“, was published in Energy and Environmental Science.