What is Decarbonization?

Most of our energy needs are now met by burning fossil fuels. Think of the gasoline that burns to power your car’s engine or the natural gas that burns to heat a stovetop or home furnace.

Burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transportation create the bulk of carbon dioxide emissions. But many of the ways we make products and protect ourselves from severe weather also produce carbon dioxide. Homes and offices are built with concrete, plastics are made from oil, fertilizer is made from ammonia, and steel is made from iron ore. In each instance, we produce carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide also occurs naturally. For example, when we exhale, we emit carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas, which is gas in the Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere but prevent heat from the sun from leaving the atmosphere. Plants, soils and oceans absorb carbon dioxide. But humans are pumping carbon dioxide into the air faster than the Earth can absorb it. This accumulated carbon dioxide traps more heat from the sun, warming the planet.

To keep our planet from getting too hot, we must reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that we produce and remove it from the air.

We call this decarbonization, which means reducing or removing carbon. The goal is to drastically reduce the amount of excess carbon dioxide in the air. Too much carbon dioxide is causing the Earth’s climate — its long-term weather patterns — to change, which threatens all living things.

How can we achieve decarbonization? By creating new ways to make fuels and material products, reducing energy use through improved efficiency, and switching to less carbon intense modes, with the goal to keep us safe from extreme weather.

While fossil fuels have long been our main source of energy in the form of electricity and heat, we can use energy that come from sources that don’t produce carbon dioxide, such as nuclear energy. We can also get energy from renewable sources like sun, wind and water that are naturally replenished. We can also use these low- or no-carbon electricity sources to heat our homes and to make concrete, plastics, fertilizer and steel. Because transportation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases, electric vehicles also play a major role in decarbonization.

Our nation strives to eliminate carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels by 2050. Scientists and engineers at Argonne are working toward this goal in many ways.

We are discovering new materials that might lead to stronger, longer-lasting batteries for electric vehicles and the electric grid. We are creating new, more efficient designs for the nuclear reactors that provide one-fifth of U.S. electricity. We are learning how to produce and transport hydrogen without emitting much carbon dioxide so we can use it as clean fuel for powering vehicles and making products. We are developing ways to capture and store carbon dioxide and even turn it into another type of clean fuel. Finally, we are building sophisticated computer models to make sure that these clean technologies can be built and operated securely, economically and equitably.

This is clearly a massive challenge. But when we overcome it, society will enjoy a bright future on our clean planet.