Fossil fuels will remain the mainstay of energy production well into the 21st century. Availability of these fuels to provide clean, affordable energy is essential for the prosperity and security of the United States. However, increased concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to carbon emissions are expected unless energy systems reduce the carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

Roughly one third of the United States' carbon emissions come from power plants and other large point sources. To stabilize and ultimately reduce concentrations of this greenhouse gas, it will be necessary to employ carbon sequestration - carbon capture, separation and storage or reuse. 

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The President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) underscored the importance of carbon sequestration in its report "Federal Energy Research and Development for the Challenges of the Twenty First Century." PCAST recommended increasing the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) R&D for carbon sequestration. The report stated: "A much larger science-based CO2 sequestration program should be developed. The aim should be to provide a science-based assessment of the prospects and costs of CO2 sequestration. This is very high-risk, long-term R&D that will not be undertaken by industry alone without strong incentives or regulations, although industry experience and capabilities will be very useful."

The joint Office of Fossil Energy and Office of Science April 1999 draft report Carbon Sequestration: State of the Science subsequently has assessed "...key areas for research and development (R&D) that could lead to an understanding of the potential for future use of carbon sequestration as a major tool for managing carbon emissions."

To be successful, the techniques and practices to sequester carbon must meet the following requirements:

• be effective and cost-competitive,
• provide stable, long term storage, and
• be environmentally benign.

Using present technology, estimates of sequestration costs are in the range of $100 to $300/ton of carbon emissions avoided. The goal of the program is to reduce the cost of carbon sequestration to $10 or less per net ton of carbon emissions avoided by 2015. Achieving this goal would save the U.S. trillions of dollars.

Further, achieving a mid-point stabilization scenario (e.g., 550 parts per million CO2) would not require wholesale introduction of zero emission systems in the near term. This would allow time to develop cost effective technology over the next 10-15 years that could be deployed for new capacity and capital stock replacement capacity.

Modeling and assessments provide the capabilities to evaluate technology options in a total systems context (i.e., considering costs and impacts over the full product cycle). Further, the societal and environmental effects are analyzed to provide a basis for assessing trade-offs between local environmental impacts and global impacts.

In the mid-term, sequestration pilot testing will develop options for direct and indirect sequestration. The direct options involve the capture of CO2 at the power plant before it enters the atmosphere coupled with "value-added" sequestration, such as using CO2 in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operation and in methane production from deep unmineable coal seams. "Indirect" sequestration involves research on means of integrating fossil fuel production and use with terrestrial sequestration and enhanced ocean storage of carbon.

In the long term, the technology products will be more revolutionary and rely less on site-specific or application-specific factors to ensure economic viability.

The program portfolio covers the entire carbon sequestration "life cycle" of capture, separation, transportation, and storage or reuse, as well as research needs for the two other major energy related greenhouse gases of concern, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxides (N2O). Specifically, the program has these elements:

• Cost effective CO2 capture and separation processes.
• CO2 sequestration in geological formations including oil and gas reservoirs, unmineable coal seams, and deep saline reservoirs.
• Improved full life-cycle carbon uptake of terrestrial ecosystems.
• Advanced chemical, biological, and decarbonization concepts.