The electricity mix, energy storage, fuel switching, biomass supply and use, and the feasibility of carbon capture and storage are the five factors underlying a set of deep decarbonization scenarios for the U.S., all of which point to an 80% GHG reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.

“There are multiple pathways to that target, each involving a different mix of technologies,” notes Grist’s Dave Roberts, describing a half-dozen scenarios in a preliminary technical report from Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

“Achieving the goal would cost only around 1% of GDP a year out through 2050, and if we started now, we could allow infrastructure to turn over at its natural rate, avoiding stranded assets.”

But “pulling it off would require immediate, intelligent, coordinated, vigorously executed policies that sustain themselves over decades. Y’know, like how America does. [cough]”