Global bioenergy with carbon capture and storage potential is largely constrained by sustainable irrigation

Author(s):  
Zhipin Ai ◽  
Naota Hanasaki ◽  
Vera Heck ◽  
Tomoko Hasegawa ◽  
Shinichiro Fujimori
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipin Ai ◽  
Naota Hanasaki

<p>Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) plays a critical role in many stringent scenarios targeting the 2°C goal. Although irrigation is considered a promising way to enhance BECCS potential while reducing the land requirement, it is still unknown where and to what extent it can enhance the global BECCS potential in view of sustainable water use. Based on integrated hydrological simulations, we found that sustainable irrigation without intervention in water usage for other sectors and refrain from exploiting nonrenewable water sources enhanced BECCS potential by only 5–6% (much smaller than 60–71% for unlimited irrigation) above the rainfed potential by the end of this century. Nonetheless, it adds limited additional water withdrawal (166–298 km<sup>3</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>, corresponding to only 4–7% of the current total withdrawal) compared to that with unlimited irrigation (1392–3929 km<sup>3</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>, corresponding to 35–98% of the current total withdrawal).</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 2150001
Author(s):  
JENNIFER MORRIS ◽  
HAROON KHESHGI ◽  
SERGEY PALTSEV ◽  
HOWARD HERZOG

Using the MIT Economic Projection and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, we explore factors influencing carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment in power generation and its role in mitigating carbon emissions. We find that in the 2∘C scenario with EPPA’s base-case technology cost and performance assumptions, CCS plays an important role in the second half of the century: by 2100 CCS is applied to almost 40% of world electricity production, with a third coming from coal with CCS and the other two-thirds from gas with CCS. Results on CCS deployment depend on the assumed fraction of carbon captured in CCS power plants, as emissions constraints get tighter and the carbon price rises. Adding options for higher capture fractions or offsetting uncaptured emissions leads to greater deployment of CCS than in the 2∘C base case. We provide a sensitivity analysis by making favorable assumptions for CCS, nuclear and renewables. We also explore regional differences in the deployment of CCS. We find that US and Europe mostly rely on gas CCS, whereas China relies on coal CCS and India pursues both options. We also assess how these projections align with assessment of CO2 storage potential, and find that storage potential is larger than storage demand at both global and regional scales. Ultimately, we find that under stringent mitigation scenarios, the power sector relies on a mix of technological options, and the conditions that favor a particular mix of technologies differ by region.


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