IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i18p4934-d416401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transitioning All Energy in 74 Metropolitan Areas, Including 30 Megacities, to 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight (WWS)

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Z. Jacobson

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Anna-Katharina von Krauland

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Zachary F.M. Burton

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Stephen J. Coughlin

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Caitlin Jaeggli

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Daniel Nelli

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Alexander J. H. Nelson

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Yanbo Shu

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Miles Smith

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Chor Tan

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Connery D. Wood

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Kelyn D. Wood

    (Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

Abstract

To date, roadmaps and policies for transitioning from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy have been developed for nations, provinces, states, cities, and towns in order to address air pollution, global warming, and energy insecurity. However, neither roadmaps nor policies have been developed for large metropolitan areas (aggregations of towns and cities), including megacities (metropolitan areas with populations above 10 million). This study bridges that gap by developing roadmaps to transition 74 metropolitan areas worldwide, including 30 megacities, to 100% wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) energy and storage for all energy sectors by no later than 2050, with at least 80% by 2030. Among all metropolitan areas examined, the full transition may reduce 2050 annual energy costs by 61.1% (from $2.2 to $0.86 trillion/yr in 2013 USD) and social costs (energy plus air pollution plus climate costs) by 89.6% (from $8.3 to $0.86 trillion/yr). The large energy cost reduction is due to the 57.1% lower end-used energy requirements and the 9% lower cost per unit energy with WWS. The air pollution cost reduction of ~$2.6 (1.5–4.6) trillion/yr is due mostly to the saving of 408,000 (322,000–506,000) lives/yr with WWS. Global climate cost savings due to WWS are ~$3.5 (2.0–7.5) trillion/yr (2013 USD). The transition may also create ~1.4 million more long-term, full-time jobs than lost. Thus, moving to 100% clean, renewable energy and storage for all purposes in metropolitan areas can result in significant economic, health, climate, and job benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Z. Jacobson & Anna-Katharina von Krauland & Zachary F.M. Burton & Stephen J. Coughlin & Caitlin Jaeggli & Daniel Nelli & Alexander J. H. Nelson & Yanbo Shu & Miles Smith & Chor Tan & Connery D. W, 2020. "Transitioning All Energy in 74 Metropolitan Areas, Including 30 Megacities, to 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight (WWS)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-40, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:18:p:4934-:d:416401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4934/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4934/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kiwan, Suhil & Al-Gharibeh, Elyasa, 2020. "Jordan toward a 100% renewable electricity system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 423-436.
    2. Child, Michael & Breyer, Christian, 2016. "Vision and initial feasibility analysis of a recarbonised Finnish energy system for 2050," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 517-536.
    3. Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Toktarova, Alla & Breyer, Christian, 2019. "Transition towards 100% renewable power and heat supply for energy intensive economies and severe continental climate conditions: Case for Kazakhstan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2016. "Smart Energy Europe: The technical and economic impact of one potential 100% renewable energy scenario for the European Union," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1634-1653.
    5. Rasmussen, Morten Grud & Andresen, Gorm Bruun & Greiner, Martin, 2012. "Storage and balancing synergies in a fully or highly renewable pan-European power system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 642-651.
    6. Blakers, Andrew & Lu, Bin & Stocks, Matthew, 2017. "100% renewable electricity in Australia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 471-482.
    7. Sadiqa, Ayesha & Gulagi, Ashish & Breyer, Christian, 2018. "Energy transition roadmap towards 100% renewable energy and role of storage technologies for Pakistan by 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 518-533.
    8. Aghahosseini, Arman & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Barbosa, Larissa S.N.S. & Breyer, Christian, 2019. "Analysing the feasibility of powering the Americas with renewable energy and inter-regional grid interconnections by 2030," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 187-205.
    9. Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Lund, Henrik & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2011. "100% Renewable energy systems, climate mitigation and economic growth," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 488-501, February.
    10. Thellufsen, J.Z. & Lund, H. & Sorknæs, P. & Østergaard, P.A. & Chang, M. & Drysdale, D. & Nielsen, S. & Djørup, S.R. & Sperling, K., 2020. "Smart energy cities in a 100% renewable energy context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    11. Esteban, Miguel & Portugal-Pereira, Joana & Mclellan, Benjamin C. & Bricker, Jeremy & Farzaneh, Hooman & Djalilova, Nigora & Ishihara, Keiichi N. & Takagi, Hiroshi & Roeber, Volker, 2018. "100% renewable energy system in Japan: Smoothening and ancillary services," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 698-707.
    12. Elliston, Ben & Diesendorf, Mark & MacGill, Iain, 2012. "Simulations of scenarios with 100% renewable electricity in the Australian National Electricity Market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 606-613.
    13. Ashish Gulagi & Dmitrii Bogdanov & Mahdi Fasihi & Christian Breyer, 2017. "Can Australia Power the Energy-Hungry Asia with Renewable Energy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-26, February.
    14. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V. & Leahy, M., 2011. "The first step towards a 100% renewable energy-system for Ireland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 502-507, February.
    15. Steinke, Florian & Wolfrum, Philipp & Hoffmann, Clemens, 2013. "Grid vs. storage in a 100% renewable Europe," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 826-832.
    16. Hart, Elaine K. & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2011. "A Monte Carlo approach to generator portfolio planning and carbon emissions assessments of systems with large penetrations of variable renewables," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2278-2286.
    17. Becker, Sarah & Frew, Bethany A. & Andresen, Gorm B. & Zeyer, Timo & Schramm, Stefan & Greiner, Martin & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2014. "Features of a fully renewable US electricity system: Optimized mixes of wind and solar PV and transmission grid extensions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 443-458.
    18. Calvillo, C.F. & Sánchez-Miralles, A. & Villar, J., 2016. "Energy management and planning in smart cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 273-287.
    19. Jacobson, Mark Z. & Delucchi, Mark A. & Cameron, Mary A. & Mathiesen, Brian V., 2018. "Matching demand with supply at low cost in 139 countries among 20 world regions with 100% intermittent wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) for all purposes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 236-248.
    20. Facchini, Angelo & Kennedy, Chris & Stewart, Iain & Mele, Renata, 2017. "The energy metabolism of megacities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(P2), pages 86-95.
    21. Lu, Bin & Blakers, Andrew & Stocks, Matthew, 2017. "90–100% renewable electricity for the South West Interconnected System of Western Australia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 663-674.
    22. Liu, Hailiang & Andresen, Gorm Bruun & Greiner, Martin, 2018. "Cost-optimal design of a simplified highly renewable Chinese electricity network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 534-546.
    23. Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2009. "Energy system analysis of 100% renewable energy systems—The case of Denmark in years 2030 and 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 524-531.
    24. Mason, I.G. & Page, S.C. & Williamson, A.G., 2010. "A 100% renewable electricity generation system for New Zealand utilising hydro, wind, geothermal and biomass resources," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 3973-3984, August.
    25. Mathiesen, B.V. & Lund, H. & Connolly, D. & Wenzel, H. & Østergaard, P.A. & Möller, B. & Nielsen, S. & Ridjan, I. & Karnøe, P. & Sperling, K. & Hvelplund, F.K., 2015. "Smart Energy Systems for coherent 100% renewable energy and transport solutions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 139-154.
    26. Elliston, Ben & MacGill, Iain & Diesendorf, Mark, 2014. "Comparing least cost scenarios for 100% renewable electricity with low emission fossil fuel scenarios in the Australian National Electricity Market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 196-204.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kılkış, Şiir, 2021. "Transition towards urban system integration and benchmarking of an urban area to accelerate mitigation towards net-zero targets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    2. Supriyadi Supriyadi & Kazi Sohag & Dani Yuniawan & Diyah Sukanti Cahyaningsih & Grahita Chandrarin & Dewi Astutty Mochtar, 2024. "Role of Institutional Quality and Financial Developments in Realizing Clean Energy Legislation in Indonesia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(6), pages 161-173, November.
    3. Dewi, Retno Gumilang & Siagian, Ucok Welo Risma & Asmara, Briantama & Anggraini, Syahrina Dyah & Ichihara, Jun & Kobashi, Takuro, 2023. "Equitable, affordable, and deep decarbonization pathways for low-latitude developing cities by rooftop photovoltaics integrated with electric vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 332(C).
    4. Kılkış, Şiir, 2022. "Urban emissions and land use efficiency scenarios towards effective climate mitigation in urban systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    5. Cole, Wesley & Antonysamy, Adithya & Brown, Patrick & Sergi, Brian & Mai, Trieu & Denholm, Paul, 2023. "How much might it cost to decarbonize the power sector? It depends on the metric," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Ram, Manish & Gulagi, Ashish & Aghahosseini, Arman & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Breyer, Christian, 2022. "Energy transition in megacities towards 100% renewable energy: A case for Delhi," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 578-589.
    7. ElSayed, Mai & Aghahosseini, Arman & Breyer, Christian, 2023. "High cost of slow energy transitions for emerging countries: On the case of Egypt's pathway options," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 107-126.
    8. Kılkış, Şiir, 2023. "Integrated urban scenarios of emissions, land use efficiency and benchmarking for climate neutrality and sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    9. Qiu, Shuo & Lei, Tian & Wu, Jiangtao & Bi, Shengshan, 2021. "Energy demand and supply planning of China through 2060," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hansen, Kenneth & Breyer, Christian & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Status and perspectives on 100% renewable energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 471-480.
    2. Jacobson, Mark Z., 2021. "The cost of grid stability with 100 % clean, renewable energy for all purposes when countries are isolated versus interconnected," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1065-1075.
    3. Maruf, Md. Nasimul Islam, 2021. "Open model-based analysis of a 100% renewable and sector-coupled energy system–The case of Germany in 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    4. Jacobson, Mark Z. & von Krauland, Anna-Katharina & Coughlin, Stephen J. & Palmer, Frances C. & Smith, Miles M., 2022. "Zero air pollution and zero carbon from all energy at low cost and without blackouts in variable weather throughout the U.S. with 100% wind-water-solar and storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 430-442.
    5. Jacobson, Mark Z. & Delucchi, Mark A. & Cameron, Mary A. & Mathiesen, Brian V., 2018. "Matching demand with supply at low cost in 139 countries among 20 world regions with 100% intermittent wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) for all purposes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 236-248.
    6. Diesendorf, Mark & Elliston, Ben, 2018. "The feasibility of 100% renewable electricity systems: A response to critics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 318-330.
    7. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Henning Meschede & Paul Bertheau & Siavash Khalili & Christian Breyer, 2022. "A review of 100% renewable energy scenarios on islands," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(6), November.
    9. Zappa, William & Junginger, Martin & van den Broek, Machteld, 2019. "Is a 100% renewable European power system feasible by 2050?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 1027-1050.
    10. Lund, Henrik & Thellufsen, Jakob Zinck & Sorknæs, Peter & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Chang, Miguel & Madsen, Poul Thøis & Kany, Mikkel Strunge & Skov, Iva Ridjan, 2022. "Smart energy Denmark. A consistent and detailed strategy for a fully decarbonized society," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Badami, Marco & Fambri, Gabriele, 2019. "Optimising energy flows and synergies between energy networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 400-412.
    12. Ma, Weiwu & Xue, Xinpei & Liu, Gang, 2018. "Techno-economic evaluation for hybrid renewable energy system: Application and merits," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 385-409.
    13. Copp, David A. & Nguyen, Tu A. & Byrne, Raymond H. & Chalamala, Babu R., 2022. "Optimal sizing of distributed energy resources for planning 100% renewable electric power systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    14. Yousefzadeh, Moslem & Lenzen, Manfred, 2019. "Performance of concentrating solar power plants in a whole-of-grid context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Valerie Eveloy & Tesfaldet Gebreegziabher, 2018. "A Review of Projected Power-to-Gas Deployment Scenarios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-52, July.
    16. Fernandes, Liliana & Ferreira, Paula, 2014. "Renewable energy scenarios in the Portuguese electricity system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 51-57.
    17. Kiwan, Suhil & Al-Gharibeh, Elyasa, 2020. "Jordan toward a 100% renewable electricity system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 423-436.
    18. Heard, B.P. & Brook, B.W. & Wigley, T.M.L. & Bradshaw, C.J.A., 2017. "Burden of proof: A comprehensive review of the feasibility of 100% renewable-electricity systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1122-1133.
    19. Matsuo, Yuhji & Endo, Seiya & Nagatomi, Yu & Shibata, Yoshiaki & Komiyama, Ryoichi & Fujii, Yasumasa, 2020. "Investigating the economics of the power sector under high penetration of variable renewable energies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    20. Hrnčić, Boris & Pfeifer, Antun & Jurić, Filip & Duić, Neven & Ivanović, Vladan & Vušanović, Igor, 2021. "Different investment dynamics in energy transition towards a 100% renewable energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:18:p:4934-:d:416401. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.