ABSTRACT

Chapter 2 offers an assessment of environmental drivers for microgrids. Like large-scale electrical grids, microgrids use fossil fuel-fired generation, renewable generation, and often both. Developing sustainable policies requires foresight. Are microgrids a solution for some of the environmental issues associated with fossil fuel combustion? This chapter considers greenhouse gas-induced climate change as an environmental driver for using renewable energy resources in microgrids. The potential and costs of reducing greenhouse gases, while difficult to estimate, are considered. It seems more coal-fired thermal plants are being demolished or adapted for modified use than are being constructed. Options are being considered to enable a transition to a low-carbon economy. Examples include reducing use of targeted fuels, improving plant and transmission system efficiencies, and fuel substitution. Also explored are additional environmental problems that include the emissions of criteria pollutants which reduce regional air and water quality. This chapter concludes with an optimistic forecast that microgrids have a place in solving key environmental issues.