PNNL

Technology is a critically important determinant of the cost of meeting any environmental objective. In this paper we examine the role of a particular technology, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), in the stabilization of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). While CCS is not presently deployed at scale, it has the potential to deploy extensively during the course of the 21st century if concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are to be stabilized. The existing research literature has focused largely on the cost of capturing CO2, with the implicit assumption that storage options would be relatively cheap, plentiful and located in close proximity to future CO2 point sources. However, CO2 capture and storage will take place at the local and regional scale and will compete with other mitigation options that also exhibit local or regional differences. This paper provides an initial examination of the implications of regionally disaggregated demand for and supply of CO2 storage reservoirs within the context of a globally disaggregated, long-term analysis of both the geology and economics of CCS. This analysis suggests that some regions will see their ability to deploy CCS systems constrained by a lack of quality target reservoirs relative to the demand for storage placed upon these candidate geologic storage reservoirs by large stationary CO2 point sources within the region. Other regions appear to have sufficient storage capacity to easily carry them into the 22nd century. We examined the regional and global economic implications of the distribution of these sources and sinks in meeting various potential limits to atmospheric CO2 concentrations. This analysis confirms that CCS is an important potential response to climate change throughout the 21st century and a technology that can play a key role in controlling the cost of addressing climate change.