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- CCS technologies have the potential to reduce overall climate change mitigation costs and increase flexibility in reducing greenhouse
gas emissions (GHG).
- A power plant equipped with CCS technology could reduce CO2 emissions
to the atmosphere by approximately 80-90 percent compared to a plant without
CCS.
- The application of CCS technologies in GHG mitigation portfolios could reduce
the costs of stabilizing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere by
30 percent or more compared to scenarios where CCS technologies are not deployed.
- A benefit of certain CCS technologies is that the component parts — carbon capture, transportation and storage — can utilize technologies adapted from other commercial industries, thereby enhancing the availability and cost competitiveness of CCS technologies as viable mitigation options.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that there
is enough capacity worldwide to permanently store as much as 1,100 gigatons
of CO2 underground
(for reference, worldwide emissions of CO2 from large stationary
sources is approximately 13 gigatons per year).
- Confidence in this technology is supported by the knowledge that CO2 produced
through natural processes has been retained in geologic formations for hundreds
of millions of years. The presence of multiple trapping mechanisms will reduce
the mobility of CO2 underground over time, decreasing the risk of
CO2 leaking to the surface. It is likely that well-selected, well-designed
and well-managed GS sites can sequester CO2 for long periods of
time.
Source: IPCC Special Report, 2005
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- Total world CO2 emissions are expected to increase significantly by 2030.
- Absent binding constraints, CO2 emissions in Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries — which include
the U.S., most of Europe, Australia, Korea, New Zealand and Japan — are
expected to increase approximately 1.1 percent per year through 2030. CO2 emissions
in non-OECD countries outside Europe and Eurasia — including China and India — are
expected to grow at 3 percent per year, in line with strong economic growth.
- In 2005, the U.S. emitted approximately 6 billion metric tons of CO2, accounting for about 22 percent of total world CO2 emissions.
- The Global Energy Technology Strategy Program (GTSP) has identified the following benefits associated with CCS:
- Near-term: CCS technologies will allow many industries — including electricity generation, refining, chemical production, and steel and cement manufacturing — to chart a viable path forward into a carbon-constrained world.
- Medium-term: CCS technologies will facilitate a smoother transition of the global economy to a low GHG emissions future.
- Long-term: CCS will make valuable commodities like electricity and hydrogen cheaper than they would be if such technologies were not available.
Source: Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan 2007, NETL
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