THE INDUSTRIAL ZERO EMISSIONS CALCULATOR

This report introduces the Industrial Zero Emissions Calculator (IZEC), an open-source Excel tool designed to help stakeholders model and visualize the resource requirements—including electricity, hydrogen, bioenergy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS)—needed to fully decarbonize the industrial sector across five global regions.

• Direct electrification is identified as the most energy-efficient method for providing industrial heat, reducing non-feedstock energy use by 28 percent in the High Direct Electrification scenario. However, it still requires significant electricity growth; fully decarbonizing U.S. industrial energy and feedstock use in 30 years would increase annual electricity demand by almost 4 petawatt-hours (PWh), representing a 2.4 percent annual growth rate.
• Relying heavily on green hydrogen for industrial heat is significantly less efficient than direct electrification. In the High Green Hydrogen scenario, U.S. electricity demand would increase by 7.8 PWh (a 3.7 percent annual growth rate over 30 years), and the required electrolyzer capacity would reach 1,613 GW, which is approximately 146 percent of current U.S. generation capacity.
• A decarbonization strategy based heavily on bioenergy for heat and feedstocks would require prohibitive amounts of land. In the High Bioenergy scenario, the U.S. would need to devote 21.5 percent of its agricultural land (approximately 87 million hectares) to bioenergy crop production, an area 25 percent larger than the state of Texas.
• Strategies relying on fossil fuel combustion with carbon capture and storage (CCS) involve massive capital costs and storage requirements. The High Fossil CCS scenario for the U.S. would require storing a volume of CO2 equivalent to 40 percent of global oil industry production, necessitating an estimated $3.3 trillion in capital investment.
• Energy and material efficiency improvements significantly lower the resource demands of all decarbonization pathways. For example, combining a 25 percent energy efficiency improvement with a 15 percent material efficiency improvement in the High Direct Electrification scenario reduces the required annual electricity demand growth rate from 2.4 percent to 1.7 percent.
• The report recommends a pragmatic pathway that prioritizes direct electrification for most heating, reserves green hydrogen for high-value applications (such as ammonia, petrochemicals, and primary steelmaking), and uses a mix of hydrogen and bioenergy for chemical feedstocks.

APA

Rissman, J., & Sawe, N. (2024). THE INDUSTRIAL ZERO EMISSIONS CALCULATOR. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Industrial-Zero-Emissions-Calculator-Report-2.pdf

Chicago

Rissman, Jeffrey, and Nik Sawe. THE INDUSTRIAL ZERO EMISSIONS CALCULATOR. Energy Innovation, 2024. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Industrial-Zero-Emissions-Calculator-Report-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rissman |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Sawe |first2=Nik |title=THE INDUSTRIAL ZERO EMISSIONS CALCULATOR |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=August 2024 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Industrial-Zero-Emissions-Calculator-Report-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rissman2024industrial, author = {Rissman, Jeffrey and Sawe, Nik}, title = {{THE INDUSTRIAL ZERO EMISSIONS CALCULATOR}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2024}, month = aug, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Industrial-Zero-Emissions-Calculator-Report-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }