Abstract
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a powerful greenhouse gas with high global warming potential. Future growth in SF6 use will be driven mainly by increasing demand for electricity and associated infrastructure in developing countries. In relation to electrical equipment, China currently produces the largest proportion of SF6 emissions. Because of the long lifetimes of electrical equipment, SF6 emissions are substantially different from its consumption, which has been used as an inaccurate proxy for emission estimations, i.e., the so-called “delayed emission effect.” This study established a model to estimate SF6 emissions by considering the delay through equipment survival, retirement curve, and equipment life cycles. Three scenarios were established to model the potential for mitigation of SF6 emissions from electrical equipment. The results showed considerable delayed effects in SF6 emissions associated with electrical equipment. By 2050, the cumulative delayed emission was projected to be 50–249 kt under the different scenarios, which would be 1.2–6.0 GtCO2e. Therefore, replacing emissions with consumption could overestimate actual short-term emissions by 1–2 times. Although electrification in end-use sectors and high penetration of renewables in generation could lower global emissions substantially, SF6 emissions by 2050 could still increase by 15 kt (i.e., 0.36 GtCO2e) if mitigation measures are not adopted. Thus, a low-carbon electricity roadmap should be complemented by careful management of electrical equipment. The potential for mitigation of SF6 emissions could be realized through demand-side management to reduce electricity demand and through technological improvements on the supply side to reduce leakage and increase recovery.
Highlights
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is one of the controlled greenhouse gases identified by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, because of its high global warming potential (GWP; 23,900)
The SF6 consumption associated with electrical equipment under the three scenarios is shown in Figure 3 as solid lines
Under the Carbon Mitigation Scenario (CMS) and Deep Mitigation Scenario (DMS), technological improvements and the increased SF6 recovery utilization ratio are projected to result in an 80% reduction of SF6 consumption in comparison with the Business As Usual scenario (BAU)
Summary
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is one of the controlled greenhouse gases identified by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, because of its high global warming potential (GWP; 23,900). Emissions of SF6 are derived mainly from four sources: equipment (gas circuit breakers (GCB), gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), and gas-insulated transformers (GIT) as an insulator) used in electricity transmission and distribution (hereafter, electrical equipment), magnesium smelting, semiconductor manufacturing, and SF6 production [1]. Electrical equipment constitutes the largest source of SF6 emissions. The excellent insulating and arc-extinguishing characteristics of SF6 have led to its widespread use in electrical equipment such as gas circuit breakers, gas-insulated switchgear, and gas-insulated transformers. Corresponding studies have shown that the recent growth of SF6 emissions has been mainly attributable to rapidly increasing demand for electricity in non-Annex I countries [1]. According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook, global electricity demand is projected to grow by 30% during 2015–2040 [5], most of which will be driven by developing countries. The emission and control of SF6 in developing countries such as China will play very important roles in the control of SF6 emissions globally
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