Greenhouse gas emissions analysis for electricity generation

Abstract

Modern society needs ever-increasing amounts of electricity as a resource. Electricity is obtained from renewable and non-renewable sources. The dilemma of greenhouse gas emissions has been raising concern among government organizations. These emissions cause intense changes in the climate, increasing the global average temperature and intensifying extreme events such as heavy rains and hurricanes. Targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been established, seeking to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions without slowing down the countries’ economies. The energy sector is responsible for about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, and the generation of electric energy is a part of this sector in which there is much interest in carrying out changes to increase the percentage of use of renewable sources that are low pollutant. In this work, the European plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be analyzed and observed from the electricity generation point of view if the proposed objectives can be fulfilled. For analysis purposes, an analysis will be made with Brazil as it was present in this agreement. Generation data from several countries, including Brazil, were used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. From the current results, a comparison is made between 1990 and 2020 greenhouse gas emissions and an evaluation is made assessing whether goals will be achieved.