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Energy Systems and Technologies for the Coming Century ...

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energy dem<strong>and</strong>; <strong>and</strong>, energy transmission, distribution, <strong>and</strong> transfer, is summarised.Indirect effects <strong>and</strong> cross-linkages with o<strong>the</strong>r economic sectors are highlighted to <strong>the</strong>extent possible.3.1 Fossil-fuel <strong>and</strong> nuclear energy resources <strong>and</strong> supplyClimate change can have implications <strong>for</strong> access, production <strong>and</strong> supply of <strong>the</strong>rmalenergy sources. Access to oil <strong>and</strong> gas resources is impacted by e.g. reduced ice coveragein Greenl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> arctic areas <strong>and</strong> melting permafrost in Alaska (Casper, 2010). Theproduction of oil <strong>and</strong> gas is sensitive to extreme wea<strong>the</strong>r events that can lead to damagesto offshore plat<strong>for</strong>ms (Cruz <strong>and</strong> Krausmann, 2008). Flooding <strong>and</strong> sea level rise can leadto structural damages <strong>and</strong> erosion of production equipment. One of <strong>the</strong> importantpotential climate change impacts is <strong>the</strong> effect of increased air <strong>and</strong> water temperatures on<strong>the</strong> technical efficiency with which fuels are converted to electricity. Even smallvariations in temperature can result in a significant change in <strong>the</strong> efficiency <strong>and</strong>reliability of energy supply. The dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong> water to cool <strong>the</strong>rmal <strong>and</strong> nuclear powerplants is vulnerable to <strong>the</strong> temperature <strong>and</strong> fluctuations in water supply <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rcompeting needs <strong>for</strong> water (Forster <strong>and</strong> Lilliestam, 2010).Although <strong>the</strong>re is general knowledge regarding <strong>the</strong> linkages <strong>and</strong> potential effects, <strong>the</strong>re islittle or no peer reviewed literature on <strong>the</strong> effects on <strong>the</strong>rmal <strong>and</strong> nuclear powerproduction of changes in river flows affecting cooling water availability; damages frominundation <strong>and</strong> from extreme wea<strong>the</strong>r events; vulnerability of offshore energyinfrastructure <strong>and</strong> impacts on <strong>the</strong> potential <strong>for</strong> exploitation of reserves; <strong>and</strong>, indirectimpacts on countries relying on energy imports through damages to roads, ports, etc.,affecting supply channels <strong>and</strong> end-supply.3.2 Renewable <strong>Energy</strong> Resources <strong>and</strong> SupplyRenewable energy including hydropower, wind, solar, <strong>and</strong> biofuels depend directly onclimate parameters <strong>and</strong> decisions are project <strong>and</strong> site-specific. Such decisions willgenerally be subject to additional uncertainty. Indeed, one of <strong>the</strong> repeated caveats in <strong>the</strong>available empirical literature on climate change impacts on renewable energy productionis that <strong>the</strong> results obtained are highly sensitive to uncertainties related to modelling <strong>the</strong>impacts of climate change at regional <strong>and</strong> local scale (World Bank 2010a; World Bank,2010b; Mauser <strong>and</strong> Bach, 2009; Fenger, 2007).Climate change influences <strong>the</strong> geographical distribution <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> variability of windfields, which determines <strong>the</strong> availability <strong>and</strong> reliability of wind energy <strong>for</strong> electricityproduction (Pryor <strong>and</strong> Bar<strong>the</strong>lmie, 2010). Several studies have investigated <strong>the</strong> impactsof climate change on wind power (Harrison, Cradden et al., 2008; de Lucena, Szklo etal., 2010). However, <strong>the</strong> geographical coverage of <strong>the</strong> peer reviewed literature on <strong>the</strong>impacts of climate change on wind power potential is uneven at present, with noavailable studies providing detailed analysis of <strong>the</strong> potential impacts of changes inextreme winds (Mideksa <strong>and</strong> Kallbekken, 2010). Apart from studies from USA, where adecrease in wind speed is found to be likely with a consequent decline in <strong>the</strong> potential <strong>for</strong>wind power, available studies indicate a small to moderate increase in <strong>the</strong> wind powerpotential with seasonal variations towards increased wind speed in <strong>the</strong> winter <strong>and</strong>decreased wind speed in <strong>the</strong> summer4.Hydrological systems are affected by climate change in a variety of ways. Observedlong-term trends in precipitation <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> period 1900-2005 indicate an increase in <strong>the</strong>eastern parts of North <strong>and</strong> South America, nor<strong>the</strong>rn Europe <strong>and</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn <strong>and</strong> centralAsia, while drying is observed in Sahel, <strong>the</strong> Mediterranean, sou<strong>the</strong>rn Africa, parts of4 Available literature mainly covers <strong>the</strong> North Sea (Sood <strong>and</strong> Durante, 2006); <strong>the</strong> Nordic region(Fenger, 2007); Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Europe (Pryor et al., 2005; Pryor <strong>and</strong> Bar<strong>the</strong>lmie, 2010); UK (Cradden etal., 2006); Irel<strong>and</strong> (Lynch et al. 2006); <strong>the</strong> Eastern Mediterranean (Bloom et al., 2008); <strong>and</strong>,Continental <strong>and</strong> Northwest USA (Breslow <strong>and</strong> Sailor, 2002; Sailor et al., 2008).Risø International <strong>Energy</strong> Conference 2011 Proceedings Page 28

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