Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy MACKAY CARBON CALCULATOR UNDER ESC (ENERGY SYSTEMS CATAPULT) ILLUSTRATIVE NET ZERO PATHWAY.
energy demand and supply across sectors such as transport, buildings, industry and electricity generation. Clicking any lever name opens an information page on the technology and the lever options to allow more informed choices. Immediate feedback on the implications of your choices is provided through an eye-catching animation and a greenhouse gas (GHG) meter showing the percentage emissions reduction. The tool has a game-like feel designed to reinforce the goal of meeting net zero emissions. Although 15 independent levers allow a lot of possible combinations, only a few of them lead to net zero.
The Calculator confronts issues head on putting the power in your hands to choose between often competing options
THE MACKAY CARBON CALCULATOR
The MacKay Carbon Calculator (https://mackaycarboncalculator. beis.gov.uk/) is a much more detailed
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tool aimed at a better informed user. It offers both greater flexibility with 45 decision levers and more comprehensive feedback with 30 interactive graphs focussed on key metrics for different areas of the energy system. It also introduces new features in the more advanced ‘2100 mode’, where the timing of action is brought under consideration. You are now able to customise when you think each system change should occur by choosing the start and end point for the action. This gives you the opportunity to explore options for when we could reach net zero or to prioritise which areas decarbonise early and which come later. If the number of choices feels overwhelming, you can start from a pre-set example pathway, ‘ESC Net Zero Illustrative’, provided as an independent balanced pathway to net zero by partners Energy Systems Catapult (ESC). Both tools are based on the same spreadsheet model which has also been published for complete transparency and to allow full
customisation. This is more detailed still with over 160 levers.
BRINGING OUT THE KEY CHOICES
Reaching net zero emissions requires difficult choices and there is no single right way of doing it. The Calculator confronts issues head on, putting the power in your hands to choose between often competing options. For example, should our buildings be converted so that heat is supplied from district heating networks or heat pumps? Or should we continue to use gas boilers, but fuel them using a gas grid that has been decarbonised with low carbon hydrogen or biogas? Should we supply zero carbon electricity from nuclear or focus on renewable technologies such as wind and solar? Should we use more land for forestry and bioenergy, and if so, will this require changes to our diet in order to free up land currently used for livestock? How should we balance behavioural and technology change? The Calculator emphasises that net zero is a whole system problem.
