Figure 1.
U.S. energy consumption and total new area impacted.
(A) U.S. energy consumption in 2006 and under four EIA scenarios. Energy conservation of liquid fuels and electricity, calculated relative to the Reference scenario, are shown as negative since they reduce consumption. (B) The total new area impacted because of development between 2006 and 2030. The new area impacted, or energy sprawl, is a product of consumption and the land-use intensity values in Figure 3. Energy conservation is calculated based on a scenario-specific weighted-average of the energy mix.
Figure 2.
Major habitat types used to analyze the land-use implications of EIA scenarios.
Within each major habitat type, there are a variety of land-uses, from relatively wild places to agricultural and urban systems. Our analysis estimates the new area needed for energy development within each major habitat type, without specifying where within each major habitat type this energy development might occur.
Figure 3.
Land-use intensity for energy production/conservation techniques.
Value shown is for 2030, as measured in km2 of impacted area in 2030 per terawatt-hour produced/conserved in that year. Error bars show the most-compact and least-compact estimates of plausible current and future levels of land-use intensity. Numbers provided are the midpoint between the high and low estimates for different techniques. For liquid fuels, energy loss from internal combustion engines is not included in this calculation.
Figure 4.
Greenhouse gas emissions and total new area impacted with a cap-and-trade system.
Arrows depict the difference between the Reference Scenario, with no cap-and-trade system, and three other scenarios where a cap-and-trade system is implemented. Greenhouse gas emissions measured in million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Table 1.
Minimum new area (km2) of habitat types impacted in the U.S.
Table 2.
Land-use intensity of production for coal mining.
Table 3.
Land-use intensity of oil and natural gas production.