Technologies to Reduce or Capture and Store Carbon Dioxide Emissions

SECTION ONE
World Energy and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions
Context
FINDINGS
• Energy consumption is driven by economic expansion and population growth. Both are
projected to increase substantially by 2030 – especially in China and India, the world’s
two most populous countries.
• As all nations seek to improve the quality of life, by 2030 electricity consumption will
increase over 100 percent at the global level and by more than 50 percent in the United
States. In the latter, the North American Reliability Council (NERC) has identified the
“addition of power generation facilities” as first on a list of 22 necessary actions to meet
electricity reliability requirements. 1
• Meeting the world’s energy needs will require a portfolio of solutions, including energy
efficiency gains, additional renewables, new nuclear power capacity and significant new
coal-based generation.
• Coal will remain a low-cost option for generating electricity for years to come and should
become increasingly viable as a substitute for liquid fuels and natural gas. Worldwide,
coal is abundant, secure, versatile and increasingly clean.
• Accordingly, coal will be the continuing foundation of electricity supply – meeting 40
percent of global demand in 2030 and 58 percent in the U.S.
• If the projections of oil and natural gas production through 2030 fall short or are affected
politically, demand for coal will increase even further.
• The U.S. is leading the developed industrialized world in reductions in carbon intensity.
The U.S. electric utility industry has already made considerable progress in providing
reliable and affordable electricity that involves increasingly lower carbon emissions per
unit of production.
• Given the explosive growth in Asian energy demand and carbon emissions, the
incremental effects of unilateral reductions in carbon emissions made by the U.S. and
other nations may be overwhelmed several times over unless those nations also adopt
carbon management strategies.
THE GLOBAL CONTEXT---The Rising Tide of Energy Demand
An adequate and affordable supply of energy is the foundation of both economic growth and a
higher quality of life. In a world where over 1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity,
China, India and other developing nations recognize this reality – and are aggressively investing
in energy supplies to sustain and extend their progress on economic development. Indeed, across
the globe all societies – mature, transitional and emerging – are striving to meet the rising
expectations of their populace for ever increasing amounts of electricity, liquid fuels and natural
gas. In fact, the constant struggle to produce more and more energy eventually may be the
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