The Potential for Carbon Sequestration in the United States

Abstract

Various analyses suggest that avoiding future climate-related damage by starting to reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2 would have greater benefits than costs. Options for doing that include not only curbing activities that generate emissions but also sequestering CO2 for example, by encouraging its absorption from the atmosphere into vegetation and soil (biological sequestration) and by trapping CO2 at power plants and industrial facilities before it is emitted and injecting it into underground storage sites (a process known as carbon dioxide capture and storage, or CCS). This paper looks at the methods, potential scale, and possible costs of both types of carbon sequestration. It also examines the particular role that sequestration could play in the context of the full range of possible actions to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA472056

Entities

People

  • Natalie Tawil

Organizations

  • Congressional Budget Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemistry
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Energy Conservation
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Environmental Protection
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Greenhouse Gases
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Economics
  • Electrochemical Engineering/ Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.