Abstract
In spite of their great importance in mitigating climate change, global mitigation scenarios, such as those reviewed by the IPCC, had mostly neglected demand-side efficient electric technologies until recently. With the increasing interest in heat pumps, electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids, the new scenarios are paying increasing attention to electric technologies. Such scenarios clearly demonstrate that electric technologies are vital to drastic cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, and that the ratio of electricity to the final energy demand increases with the stringency of mitigation. Global scenarios with focus on electrification, as opposed to bioenergy or hydrogen, are still new and require more thorough investigation.
