Carbon emissions charges

If a 50/ton carbon emission charge is mandated, renewable energy cost would become more competitive as follows ... 

It is debatable what the emission rate is that would stabilize the atmospheric C02 concentration at an acceptable level. Similarly, it is not known how much the emission charge should be to reach that target rate. According to an MIT study released in March 2007, if a global carbon emission charge of 25/ton was applied, this would result in stabilizing the global C02 emission at today s rate of 28 billion tons per year by 2050. 

Other estimates suggest that in order to lower C02 emission by 2030 to the level it was in 2000, the carbon emission charge should be 50- 100. Robert Stavins of Harvard University estimates that a 100/ton fee would increase the cost of coal-based electricity by 400% and natural gas-based electricity by 100%. Such increases would make the cost of solar, wind, or other alternative sources of electricity more than competitive. 

It is estimated that the installed cost of a 1 gW thermal solar power plant is about 3 billion. The mass production of solar collectors is just beginning, and it is probable that with it will come a substantial drop in collector prices. The cost of a new nuclear power plant, if one includes the waste disposal and decommissioning costs, is about 5 to 6 billion. On average, nuclear plants generate 1 gW of electricity, which is about twice the electricity production of typical fossil power plants. The cost of a 1 gW fossil fuel power plant (two 0.5 gW plants), if carbon-capturing technology is included and if carbon emission charges are also considered, is the same as nuclear plants. 

Power Plant Fuel Wholesale Cost of One kWh of Electricity Produced in 2007 Wholesale Cost of One kWh of Electricity if 50/ton Carbon Emission Charge Is Mandated... 

Also given in Table 9.5 is the effect of distributing the cost of carbon emissions across only the olefins (ethylene and propylene) versus distributing this cost over all of the saleable products, i.e. that pyrolysis gasoline and other products should receive some of the carbon charge. The cost curves for the various scenarios are shown in Figure 9.15. 

Future research will determine how carbon dioxide emission charges will influence both (1) hydrogen... 

As initially discussed in Section 3, carbon canisters are used in the automotive emission control system to temporarily store hydrocarbon vapors. The vapors are later purged into the air charge stream of the air induction system, thus regenerating the carbon canister. Carbon canister design is dependent on the characteristics of the vapors sent to the canister and the amount of purge air available. In the following section, factors that affect the performance of the evaporative emission control system will be discussed. 

Hydrocarbon vapor migration within the carbon canister is a significant factoi during the real time diurnal test procedure. The phenomenon occurs after the canister has been partially charged with fuel vapors. Initially the hydrocarbons will reside primarily in the activated carbon that is closest to the fuel vapor source. Over time, the hydrocarbons will diffuse to areas in the carbon bed with lower HC concentration. Premature break through caused by vapor migration for twc different canisters is shown in Fig. 17. The canister with the L/D ratio of 5.0 shows substantially lower bleed emissions than the canister with an L/D ratio of 3.0. 

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