Net‐Zero Carbon Liquid and Gaseous Fuels: Impact on the Electric and Natural Gas Subsectors

Many forces are driving regulatory policies toward the complete decarbonization of the US energy system. Industrial heat, aviation, heavy‐duty freight transport, and high‐renewable system load balancing will all be challenging to decarbonize, or in the case of load balancing, to implement over long time and distance spans. Net‐zero carbon fuels (NZCFs), gases, and liquids that function like a fossil fuel in the energy system but have net‐zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to the atmosphere can replace fossil fuels in difficult‐to‐decarbonize applications. Existing systems, however, are not commercially viable at large scale. Many fuel targets are being pursued, such as alcohols, hydrocarbons, and ammonia. Research, demonstration, and deployment efforts are active by researchers in academia and industry. Use of net‐zero carbon fuels at large scale are likely to increase demand for electricity to manufacture such fuels, and could replace fossil natural gas with renewable natural gas, and offer a solution for energy storage. Net‐zero carbon fuels are also likely to be used in transportation applications, where they will compete with battery storage, hydrogen converted in fuel cells, and fossil fuels paired with offsetting negative emissions technologies. The impact of these fuels on future energy systems and their large‐scale use will depend on their costs and capabilities, requirements for decarbonization, and the ability of other technologies to meet what seem today like impossible challenges in energy system decarbonization.