What happens when a new zero-carbon energy source is introduced in En-ROADS?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

When evaluating what happens in En-ROADS after introducing a new zero-carbon energy source, it’s important to consider how the model translates new clean supply into climate outcomes.
Option 1: 'It eliminates emissions immediately' overstates the effect. In En-ROADS, even with a zero-carbon option, emissions reductions occur over time as the energy system shifts and ramp-up takes place; immediate elimination of all emissions is not realistic because energy transition dynamics and deployment scales take time.
Option 2: 'It reduces temperature drastically within 5 years' is unlikely. The global temperature response from a single policy or technology tends to unfold over decades due to inertia in the climate system, stock turnover, and gradual diffusion of the technology. A drastic change within five years would require sweeping, instantaneous behavior that the model does not typically assume.
Option 3: 'It only modestly reduces temperature' aligns with how En-ROADS often portrays the impact of adding a new zero-carbon source: it helps reduce warming, but the magnitude is modest unless accompanied by broader, systemic changes (deployment scale, complementary policies, and sustained emissions reductions). This reflects diminishing returns on a single technology when modeled in isolation and the persistence of existing emissions in the near term.
Option 4: 'It replaces renewable energy entirely' would imply a complete substitution of all renewables by the new source, which is not a typical outcome in En-ROADS unless the scenario is expressly set up that way; in practice, a single new zero-carbon source does not automatically displace all renewables across the economy.

MGMT 297 03 Readiness Quiz- Renewables, Nuclear, & Zero Carbon

What happens when a new zero-carbon energy source is introduced in En-ROADS?

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