Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction from Fossil Fuels: Options and Prospects

Abstract

If levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are to be stabilized over the next 50 years, net emissions from the use of fossil fuels have to be reduced. One concept worth exploring is the removal of carbon dioxide from plant flue gases and disposing of it in a manner that sequesters it from the atmosphere. A number of technologies, which are either commercially available or under development, promise to make this concept viable. The question of where to dispose of the carbon dioxide removed is not the limiting factor, given the potential for use in enhanced hydrocarbon production as well as other geological disposal options.In the longer term, fossil fuel use will significantly decline, but these extraction and sequestration technologies can provide the time for the transition to take place in a manner which causes least impact to the economies of the world.