The U.S. can cut its carbon output to zero by the middle of the 21st century, according to a sweeping new Princeton University study. In such a "net-zero" scenario, the American carbon output would be equal to or lesser to the carbon pulled out of the atmosphere on U.S. soil.
But to get there, the country must start now.
There isn't one way to achieve the goal, the authors found. In their model, they tested approaches using only renewable energy and others that relied more heavily on next-generation nuclear technologies (including ones that still produce nuclear waste), carbon capture and natural gas — landing on five possible routes the U.S. might take to a net-zero 2050. But regardless of the route taken, certain steps must be taken before 2030, the authors wrote.
Those include putting 50 million electric cars on the road and 3 million public charging ports, increasing the use of electric heating systems in homes from today's 10% to 23%, tripling the use of electric heating on commercial property, quadrupling wind and solar capacity from today's 150 gigawatts to 600 gigawatts, building high voltage transmission infrastructure to carry renewable energy over long distances and reducing non-carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas output, nitrous oxide (N20) and methane (CH4), by 10%.
The researchers also called for changing forest and agricultural management practices to increase the amount of carbon permanently removed from the atmosphere by plants each year, developing a pipeline network for moving carbon pulled out of the air to underground storage facilities, and investing in developing power technologies like hydrogen combustion power plants.
Originally published on Live Science.
