Power systems of the future will necessarily differ from power systems of the past, including generation, transmission and distribution systems. Global climate change resulting from excessive amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is at a critical stability point. Present (2024) levels of carbon dioxide are near 420 ppm. Climate scientists have estimated that levels somewhere between 425 and 440 ppm may result in irreversible temperature increase.

In 2022, U.S. gross greenhouse gas emission levels were approximately 6600 million metric tons (MMT) of CO2 equivalent, while sequestering rates were only about 900 MMT [1]. The challenge is to reduce the greenhouse gas production level to below the sequestering rate in order to reduce overall GHG levels. In 2023, sectors primarily responsible for U.S. greenhouse gas production were transportation (38.6%), electrical generation (29.7%), industry (20%), commercial (5.2%) and residential (6.5%). Assuming a transition of transportation from fossil to electric, this implies that the electrical generation sector will require rapid reduction of greenhouse gas production. Fortunately, as will be shown, economics are very favorable to this transition.

This 2 hour webinar will present the challenges of greenhouse gas free electrical power production and the presently available solutions, along with future developments and economic analysis methods.