Energy and Electricity - Introduction to Carbon Capture and Sequestration - page 15

25

20

15

30
30P 10

2.7 billion people with very
low emissions (1 < t CO 2 /yr)

5

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cumulative Population Ranked According to
Decreasing Annual CO 2 Emissions (in Billions)

Figure 1.2.7 Individual carbon emissions
Prediction of the individual carbon emissions in 2030. The figure shows the total number
of people that have an annual emission greater than the point on the curve. The global
reduction targets can be achieved if emission by individuals in the blue area are capped.
This blue area corresponds to a global annual emissions reduction of 13 Gt CO 2 from
the 30 Gt CO 2 target. If one slightly increases this level to the 30P arrow, this would allow
the poorest in the world to create a minimum individual emission of 1 t CO 2 . This would
raise the emissions of 2.7 billion people who emit less than 1 t CO 2 (green area at the
right). Figure adapted from Chakravarty et al. [1.8].

How much CO 2 can we capture?
Until now, we have assumed that all CO 2 emissions are equivalent. From
an environmental point of view there is, of course, no difference whether
the source is a car or a power plant. From a carbon capture point of view,
however, there is a large difference in the costs associated with captur-
ing CO 2 . As we will see in the carbon capture chapters, the technology
of capturing CO 2 requires large equipment, which makes it very difficult
to install a carbon capture facility on a car or an airplane. For example, if
we install such a facility on an airplane, the collected CO 2 after a flight
would weigh three times the weight of the kerosene used to power the
aircraft in the first place! This illustrates one of the practical difficulties
with carbon capture for mobile sources. Carbon capture is much more