(662g) Investigating the Sensitivity of CO2 Reduction Costs

The problem of global warming has induced a spreading awareness about the need to reduce the production of greenhouse gases, especially CO₂. The emissions can be reduced through implementing various options such as enhancing efficiency of existing processes, implementing renewable energy, and applying CO₂ capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS). The implementation of such projects is governed by various social and economic factors, and the cost of CO₂ reduction has been considered a key parameter for assessing the options. The costs may vary significantly depending on the applied technologies, their performance, and other factors such as the demand and accessibility to resources. Consequently, many studies surveying such pathways report the costs within wide ranges due to the varying assumptions. This work studies the effect of such factors on the cost of different CO₂ reduction pathways and presents a comparison between the different options based on their economic and environmental performances. The focus is on the impact of power options, resource availability, and demand for power on the cost and CO₂ reduction potential of renewable energy and CCUS options. The integrated systems associated with the different scenarios analyzed are represented on Minimum Marginal Abatement Cost (Mini-MAC) curves. Mini-MAC is a recently developed analysis tool that allows the illustration of key insights related to the cost of CO₂ reduction while considering the integration between the different components of the system. The results identify the future opportunities of economic CO₂ reduction to assist planners and policy makers when designing CO₂ reduction pathways.