The benefits of investing into improved carbon flux monitoring

Figures & data

Figure 1. Reduction of uncertainty in 20-year average annual mean NEP relative to prior uncertainty.

Table 1. Reduction of uncertainty in 20-year average annual mean NPP relative to prior uncertainty

Region	Europe	Russia	Brazil
Uncertainty reduction (%)	0.81	0.71	0.93

Note: These estimates are based on the tool described in Kaminski et al. (2012).

Figure 2. Model structure.

Table 2. CO₂ prices

Stabilization target (ppm)	450	480	520
Starting price in 2015 (EUR/tCO2)	28.51	14.36	5.85
Trend (yearly growth rate)	0.0488	0.0488	0.0488

Figure 3. Impacts of investment into an improved carbon observing system for energy producers.

Table 3. Technological parameters and CCS cost data (International Energy Agency [IEA], 2008b, 2010, 2012)

Technology	Coal	Gas
Emission intensity (tCO2/GWh)	920	351
Technology share (%)	21	20
Energy supply (GWh)	696,234	663,080
Levelized cost of electricity without CCS (EUR/MWh)	51.59	61.6
Levelized cost of electricity with CCS (EUR/MWh)	85.47	82.01
Capture rate (%)	85	85

Notes: Fuel prices in the IEA’s “Projected Cost of Generating Electricity” (2010) are at US$ 3.60 per GJ for hard coal (OECD), US$ 9.76 per GJ for natural gas (OECD Europe) and US$ 11.09 per GJ for natural gas (OECD Europe). For brown coal, national assumptions have been used, as it is not traded. Also, large gas and coal producers (e.g. Australia) can deviate from the price assumptions, in which cases domestic price assumptions have been used. The majority of respondents foresee an escalation of coal and gas prices for the duration of their plant’s lifetime.

Figure 4. Benefits of investment into an improved carbon observing system.

Figure 5. Discount rate sensitivity analysis.

Kaminski, T., Rayner, P. J., Voßbeck, M., Scholze, M., & Koffi, E. (2012). Observing the continental-scale carbon balance: Assessment of sampling complementarity and redundancy in a terrestrial assimilation system by means of quantitative network design. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12, 7867–7879.10.5194/acp-12-7867-2012

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