Value chain · CLM-0832
In plain terms
A UK-commissioned study modelled the whole planned 2022-2080 fleet of space solar power satellites and found that, spread across all the electricity it would ever deliver, each unit of power would carry about 23.6 grams of CO2, which the authors say is similar to other renewable energy technologies.
The claim as recorded
SRC-016 computes the UK SEI technology roadmap's cradle-to-grave Global Warming Potential (GWP100, IPCC 2013 method) at 3.22E+11 kg CO2e for the whole 2022-2080 programme, comprising 5 stratospheric and 5 LEO SPS prototypes plus 25 full-scale 2 GW CASSIOPeiA systems at a 30-year average satellite lifetime, and divides it by a modelled total programme energy delivery of 1.37E+13 kWh to state a programme-wide carbon intensity of 23.6 gCO2e/kWh.
Scope and limits
This is a programme-wide average intensity across a 58-year build-out, NOT the intensity of a single mature satellite, and the two must not be interchanged. It assumes 100 per cent of the energy received at the rectenna is fed directly to grid, with no storage or alternative end use, which the authors flag for future study on p.16. It excludes black carbon and aluminium oxide from rocket propulsion, see CLM-0834. The underlying report was commissioned by the UK Space Energy Initiative and the authors themselves note "the potential vested interest of the SEI in this analysis" (p.2), so under METHOD C4 it may not stand alone as confirmation of the commissioner's own case. The ISO 14040/14044 third-party critical review of its comparative assertions against terrestrial energy systems is stated on p.3 to be still unfulfilled.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
p.1 Abstract: "the life cycle carbon footprint of the SEI technology roadmap was found to be 3.22E+11 kg CO2 eq., which equates to 79.4% of the UK's entire carbon footprint in 2020. However, considering the vast amount of energy delivered, this produces a value of 23.6 gCO2e/kWh". p.14: "a total of 1.37E+13 kWh of energy would be produced by the programme as a whole...this means that the total carbon footprint of the SEI programme is 23.56614576 gCO2e/kWh". Table 4 p.13, GWP100 TOTAL column, 3.22E+11 kg CO2 eq. p.16, section 6, of the same 23.6 gCO2e/kWh: "which was found to be similar to other renewable energy technologies".
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-008 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0832
CLM-0832, Energy Aperture, as of 2022.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-016
- CLM-0184This study's headline carbon-per-kWh figure for a UK space solar power programme leaves out the possible climate effect of soot and...CLM-0185In a 2022 life-cycle study commissioned by the UK Space Energy Initiative, the lightweight CASSIOPeiA design it used as an example for the...CLM-0833This 2022 life-cycle study spells out exactly what it counted: the UK Space Energy Initiative's whole 2022-2080 roadmap, from early...CLM-0834The authors say their model does not count the soot and aluminium oxide that rockets release into the upper atmosphere, because the science...CLM-0835In a 2022 study, the research team compared its estimated carbon footprint per unit of electricity for a planned UK Space Energy Initiative...CLM-0836A 2022 life-cycle study set its estimate of 23.6 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour for the UK Space Energy Initiative's...CLM-0837Although the study's headline number is about carbon, its own results show ozone damage is the far bigger relative problem, at about 32 per...CLM-0838The authors of a 2022 life-cycle study of the UK Space Energy Initiative's planned space solar power programme said that, if the whole...More on the source page.