The Role Of Negative Emission Technologies In Addressing Our Climate Goals

To achieve goals for climate and economic growth, "negative emissions technologies" (NETs) that remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Unlike carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide emissions directly from large point sources such as coal power plants, NETs remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or enhance natural carbon sinks. Storing the carbon dioxide from NETs has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less disruptive than reducing some emissions, such as a substantial portion of agricultural and land-use emissions and some transportation emissions. In 2015, the National Academies published Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration, which described and initially assessed NETs and sequestration technologies. This report acknowledged the relative paucity of research on NETs and recommended development of a research agenda that covers all aspects of NETs from fundamental science to full-scale deployment. To address this need, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda assesses the benefits, risks, and "sustainable scale potential" for NETs and sequestration. This report also defines the essential components of a research and development program, including its estimated costs and potential impact.

The signals are everywhere that our planet is experiencing significant climate change. It is clear that we need to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from our atmosphere if we want to avoid greatly increased risk of damage from climate change. Aggressively pursuing a program of emissions abatement or mitigation will show results over a timescale of many decades. How do we actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make a bigger difference more quickly? As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses CDR, the carbon dioxide removal of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and sequestration of it in perpetuity. Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration introduces possible CDR approaches and then discusses them in depth. Land management practices, such as low-till agriculture, reforestation and afforestation, ocean iron fertilization, and land-and-ocean-based accelerated weathering, could amplify the rates of processes that are already occurring as part of the natural carbon cycle. Other CDR approaches, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration, direct air capture and sequestration, and traditional carbon capture and sequestration, seek to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and dispose of it by pumping it underground at high pressure. This book looks at the pros and cons of these options and estimates possible rates of removal and total amounts that might be removed via these methods. With whatever portfolio of technologies the transition is achieved, eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from the global energy and transportation systems will pose an enormous technical, economic, and social challenge that will likely take decades of concerted effort to achieve. Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration will help to better understand the potential cost and performance of CDR strategies to inform debate and decision making as we work to stabilize and reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.

"Humans started adding fossil CO2 to the atmosphere about 300 years ago and accelerated land use emissions by expanding croplands and pastures. The unintended consequence of these activities is a 120 ppm increase in atmospheric concentration of CO2, which is now changing our climate. In response, international action is being taken to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming below 2°C. Most climate mitigation technologies are intended to decrease the rate at which we take additional carbon from fossil fuel reservoirs and ecosystems and add it to the atmosphere as CO2. These include renewable electricity, increased energy efficiency, and carbon capture and storage of emissions from fossil power plants. This report focuses on the reverse: technologies that take CO2 out of the atmosphere and put it back into geologic reservoirs and terrestrial ecosystems. These negative emissions technologies, or NETs, have received much less attention by researchers than traditional mitigation technologies"--Preface.

Negative Emissions Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation provides a comprehensive introduction to the full range of technologies that are being researched, developed and deployed in order to transition from our current energy system, dominated by fossil fuels, to a negative-carbon emissions system. After an introduction to the challenge of climate change, the technical fundamentals of natural and engineered carbon dioxide removal and storage processes and technologies are described. Each NET is then discussed in detail, including the key elements of the technology, enablers and constraints, governance issues, and global potential and cost estimates. This book offers a complete overview of the field, thus enabling the community to gain a full appreciation of NETs without the need to seek out and refer to a multitude of sources. Covers the full spectrum of technologies to underpin the transition to a negative emissions energy system, from technical fundamentals to the current state of deployment and R&D Critically evaluates each technology, highlighting advantages, limitations, and the potential for large scale environmental applications Combines natural science and environmental science perspectives with the practical use of state-of-the-art technologies for sustainability

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage: Using Natural Resources for Sustainable Development presents the technologies associated with bioenergy and CCS and its applicability as an emissions reduction tool. The book explores existing climate policies and current carbon capture and storage technologies. Sections offer an overview of several routes to use biomass and produce bioenergy through processes with low or even negative CO2 emissions. Associated technology and the results of recent research studies to improve the sustainability of the processes are described, pointing out future trends and needs. This book can be used by bioenergy engineering researchers in industry and academia and by professionals and researchers in carbon capture and storage.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

An essential resource for understanding the potential role for biomass energy with carbon capture and storage in addressing climate change Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) offers a comprehensive review of the characteristics of BECCS technologies in relation to its various applications. The authors — a team of expert professionals — bring together in one volume the technical, scientific, social, economic and governance issues relating to the potential deployment of BECCS as a key approach to climate change mitigation. The text contains information on the current and future opportunities and constraints for biomass energy, explores the technologies involved in BECCS systems and the performance characteristics of a variety of technical systems. In addition, the text includes an examination of the role of BECCS in climate change mitigation, carbon accounting across the supply chain and policy frameworks. The authors also offer a review of the social and ethical aspects as well as the costs and economics of BECCS. This important text: Reveals the role BECCS could play in the transition to a low-carbon economy Discusses the wide variety of technical and non-technical constraints of BECCS Presents the basics of biomass energy systems Reviews the technical and engineering issues pertinent to BECCS Explores the societal implications of BECCS systems Written for academics and research professionals, Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) brings together in one volume the issues surrounding BECCS in an accessible and authoritative manner.