Volume 10: Sustainable Energy Solutions for Changing the World: Part II

Global potential for carbon reduction via renewable energy and negative emission technologies Lanyu Li, Jun Jie Yeoh, Xiaonan Wang

Abstract

Combining renewable energy, waste-to-energy (WtE), and negative emission technologies could provide efficient solutions to mitigate emission or even achieve negative emissions. However, there is a lack of understanding of the global potential of such systems considering countries or regions with varying resource portfolios. In this article, we quantify the potential role of such combination in climate change mitigation around the world and recommend the top places for technology implementation. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) optimization was used to select the specific technologies for 20 countries. The result showed that 17 countries were decided to be profitable locations for the proposed system when net present value was maximized. Negative emission was possible to be achieved in 16 countries if greenhouse gas emission was minimized, but it may result in a dramatic increase in cost compared to the optimal NPV scenario.

Keywords hybrid renewable energy system, negative emission technologies, greenhouse gas emission, economic assessment, optimization