The differential impact of low-carbon technologies on climate change mitigation cost under a range of socioeconomic and climate policy scenarios.

Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Energy Policy, 80:264-274

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.01.038· OSTI ID:1208708

Barron, Robert W.; McJeon, Haewon C.

This paper considers the effect of several key parameters of low carbon energy technologies on the cost of abatement. A methodology for determining the minimum level of performance required for a parameter to have a statistically significant impact on CO2 abatement cost is developed and used to evaluate the impact of eight key parameters of low carbon energy supply technologies on the cost of CO2 abatement. The capital cost of nuclear technology is found to have the greatest impact of the parameters studied. The cost of biomass and CCS technologies also have impacts, while their efficiencies have little, if any. Sensitivity analysis of the results with respect to population, GDP, and CO2 emission constraint show that the minimum performance level and impact of nuclear technologies is consistent across the socioeconomic scenarios studied, while the other technology parameters show different performance under higher population, lower GDP scenarios. Solar technology was found to have a small impact, and then only at very low costs. These results indicate that the cost of nuclear is the single most important driver of abatement cost, and that trading efficiency for cost may make biomass and CCS technologies more competitive.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1208708
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-107937; KP1703030
• Journal Information: Energy Policy, 80:264-274, Journal Name: Energy Policy, 80:264-274
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

climate change
integrated assessment
uncertainty