Shifting the Paradigm: Nuclear-based Integrated Energy Systems to Achieve Net Zero Solutions

Governments and private industry around the world have established aggressive goals to achieve net zero carbon emissions for the power, industrial, and transportation sectors by 2050. These goals require a sharp paradigm shift in how energy demands are met. Research laboratories and private companies are developing holistic, integrated solutions that seek to efficiently utilize an array of clean energy generation sources to meet the growing demand for heat, steam, and electricity from nonemitting sources. Electricity demands in the United States" and across many developed countries account for approximately one-third of overall energy use and about one-third of CO2 emissions. Most energy demands have traditionally been met via generators that support a single energy sector. The chemicals and fuels industries draw some electricity from the grid, but most large industrial facilities independently cogenerate heat and power for their internal utility duties, contributing to ^20 percent of CO2 emissions. Only recently has the transportation sector been more directly linked to the grid with the increasing adoption of electric vehicles, but it is still responsible for more than one-third of CO2 emissions.