Pathway to the Zero Emission Utopia: a review

Abstract

Attaining zero emissions stands as a key aspect of sustainable development. The conventional pathway, known as the “Zero Emissions Society (ZES)”, involves the use of renewable energy generation as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels and promotes the total de-carbonisation of the grid, ultimately leading to net-zero emissions. This requires the establishment of large-scale renewable energy power stations, increased transmission efficiency and energy storage facilities. In addition to this conventional pathway, this review introduces an innovative concept, termed “Zero Emission Utopia (ZEU)”, which originates from an individual-centric perspective. This novel approach enables the achievement of zero carbon emissions in human daily life activities and subsequent propagation of this practice extensively, actualising a zero-emissions scenario. An analysis of the available utopian sources of energy and distributed energy storage methods for this proposed pathway is conducted and presented. In addition, an evaluation case study, quantifying the renewable energy production capacity available to an individual, shows with the help of distributed energy storage methods, the ZEU pathway is feasible for normal families. Moreover, the constructive collaboration between these two pathways is explored, highlighting their potential for mutual enrichment and complementary advantages.