Okay. Here's the question.
How are we going to double our electricity usage
and make it totally clean?
Net zero. Net zero. Net zero. Net zero.
That's the plan. But what does it really mean?
Because here's the thing, our energy is
responsible for about 75% of all of
our greenhouse gas emissions,
but our power consumption is actually expected
to double by 2050. So how do we do that
without totally destroying the planet?
To find out, I've been talking to lots of
scientists and experts, and there is a lot.
Okay, let's start with one of the nicer predictions.
Now, the International Energy Agency say that
by 2050, renewables could account for
90% of all of our electricity generation globally.
Ok. That sounds promising.
But to find out what that really means
down on the ground,
I've come to a UK National Grid site
where they're building tunnels to prepare
for future energy demand.
Before we go any further, right, what is the grid?
The National Grid is really the highway for energy.
So we move energy around the country.
And in 2020, renewable energy actually
outstripped that from fossil fuels,
making up 43% of all the UK's energy.
Here in the UK, as you can see, we have a lot of wind
and that's a really great renewable power source.
But in order to get to net zero,
we could need ten times the wattage of
what we currently generate with offshore wind
and that could need up to about 7,500 turbines.
Our target is to connect 40 gigawatts of
offshore wind by 2030 and we need a lot of
infrastructure to do that.
But we're also looking at what the network
needs to be able to do to be more flexible
for renewable energy.
Because it's not just wind, all of the UK's
renewables will need to increase as well.
When it comes to power, one major thing
we need to look at is our reliance on gas.
Gas is still currently in 85% of our homes
and 40% of our electricity is dependent on
gas for its production. So gas still plays
a huge, a huge role in the energy network.
So what will replace natural gas?
Well, hydrogen is a bit of a buzz word
in net zero because in theory, burning it
produces almost entirely water.
I mean, it can also produce nitrous oxides
which contribute to acid rain,
but it doesn't produce any CO2.
So largely it's considered clean energy.
However, it all depends on where you get
the hydrogen from.
Hydrogen can be made in a
number of different ways,
and not all of those ways are clean.
So we could make hydrogen from natural gas,
turning a fossil fuel into hydrogen.
But if we make hydrogen from natural gas
and capture the carbon that's emitted during
that process, then it can be very much more clean.
Yeah. So what's often left out of the conversations
around hydrogen right now is
that 96% of it is made from fossil fuels.
And even if you capture the carbon that's
produced during that process, it's still 20%
more carbon-emitting than simply
burning gas for heat.
So it's not solving a problem, is it?
But hydrogen can be green
if it's made from electricity
and if that electricity comes from renewables.
And even though that's only a fraction of
how we make hydrogen today,
it's not the end of the road for hydrogen,
because it could be a game changer
for how we store renewable energy.
So with renewables like wind or solar,
what do you do when the wind isn't blowing
or the sun isn't shining?
Well, you need to have some energy in the bank.
Batteries have been really, really successful
in terms of storing energy, but the major issue
with batteries is that they can't store
electricity for long periods of time.
So in addition, we need long duration energy storage,
or LDES for short.
There are all sorts of novel ways of storing
energy and electricity which are being looked into.
Okay so there's something called gravity-based
energy storage.
Literally by lifting and lowering heavy blocks,
energy can be stored and then
released when needed.
Another option is electro-thermal storage,
where energy is stored for example as molten salt,
which can be used to power turbines
in the same way as gas and coal.
You can also convert energy into compressed air
and store it underground.
And then there's our old friend, hydrogen.
Even though it isn't necessarily efficient
or clean
to generate hydrogen at the moment,
what we are looking at is future technologies
whereby we can generate green hydrogen from
excess electricity from renewables
formed through a process called electrolysis,
and that would provide a really nice way of
using excess power from renewables
and then storing it for when it's needed.
Okay. Onto the big question. What's our role
in all of this? Because your average individual
doesn't own a power station right,
but we are part of the system.
Previously you would turn your lights on
and you wouldn't know where your energy
has come from.
But if you think now you have smart meters,
apps that can tell you how much it's costing
to use certain types of energy.
So consumers are playing a bigger role,
they're much more invested,
and their behaviours are having a bigger influence
on the energy network.
So who's responsible for this change?
Achieving net zero's going to have to be
a mix of individuals taking responsibility
for their own actions, but also recognising that
it's not going to happen if we just rely on that.
There are going to have to be
government policies and quite strong incentives.
So there are some huge changes needed both
inside the home and outside to reach net zero.
But if everything goes well,
we shouldn't feel a difference at home
at all.
Flick a switch and electricity should just flow.
And be green, of course.