Fossil fuels carbon costs

While there is tremendous potential for solar energy to contribute substantially to the future carbon free power needs, none of the routes listed above are currently competitive with fossil fuels from cost, reliability, and performance perspectives. Photovoltaic solar cells have been around for decades and have been widely dep loyed in space vehicles. Terrestrially, their utilization thus far has been limited to niche applications or remote locales where less expensive electricity is not available. Costs for turnkey installations were 6 10 times more expensive in 1999 for solar... 

The control of carbon dioxide emission from burning fossil fuels in power plants or other industries has been suggested as being possible with different methods, of which sequestration (i.e., collecting CO2 and injecting it to the depth of the seas) has been much talked about recently. Besides of the obvious cost and technical difficulties, this would only store, not dispose of, CO2 (although natural processes in the seas eventually can form carbonates, albeit only over very long periods of time). 

To comply with carbon reduction goals, some countries impose taxes on carbon dioxide emissions. Since biofuels have lower full-cycle carbon dioxide emissions than fossil fuels, biofuels are more cost-competitive with fossil fuels in regions where these taxes are imposed. 

Unlike the gasoline tax that only impacts the transportation sector, carbon taxes affect all sectors of the economy. Implemented by some European countries and proposed in the United States by the Clinton Administration in 1993, the carbon tax makes consumption of fossil fuels more expensive for the energy user. The goals of a carbon tax are to reduce the consumption of energy and to make non-carbon emitting sources like wind and hydroelectric more cost-competitive with fossil fuels. 

Sims, R.E.H. Rogner, H.H. Gregory K. Carbon emission and mitigation cost comparisons between fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable energy resources for electricity generation. Energy Policy 2003, 31,1315-1326. 

Vegetational carbon banks would compete with agriculture for land and nutrient resources. It is estimated that a land area about the size of Alaska would need to be planted with fast-growing trees over the next 50 years to use up about half the projected fossil-fuel-induced C02 at a cost of about 250 billion or 50 per person for the global population. One problem is that once the trees are fully grown they no longer take up C02 very rapidly and would need to be cleared so new trees could be planted to continue a quicker uptake. Old trees could be used for lumber, but not fuel, since this would release the C02. If used as fuel, a delay of 50 years, (the typical growth time) would occur and move up the buildup rate of atmospheric C02. 

Today s rapidly increasing activities on hydrogen focus mostly on vehicle applications and less on stationary applications. For fuel cells, stationary applications are also relevant, but natural gas will be the dominant fuel here. The dominance of the transport sector is also reflected in the hydrogen roadmaps developed, among others, in the EU, the USA, Japan, or at an international level. Whereas in the beginning, onsite or decentralised production options based on fossil fuels or electricity are seen as the major option for hydrogen production, later on central production options will dominate the market. Here, several options could play a role, from coal, with carbon capture and sequestration, through natural gas and renewables (wind, biomass) to nuclear. A C02-free or lean vision can be identified in every roadmap. The cost... 

---