TY - JOUR
T1 - Federal research, development, and demonstration priorities for carbon dioxide removal in the United States
AU - Sanchez, Daniel L.
AU - Amador, Giana
AU - Funk, Jason
AU - MacH, Katharine J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has sponsored research and demonstration of CDR and other mitigation technologies that directly apply to CDR, including CCS. Two existing programs illustrate DOE’s potential approach to CDR commercialization. First, DOE’s Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage program has funded demonstration of CO2 capture and storage from biofuels production (table 1) (US Department of Energy 2015a). Once fully implemented, the project will capture 1 million tons of biogenic CO2 annually from corn ethanol fermentation for sequestration in the Mt. Simon Sandstone, a saline aquifer (Finley 2014). Second, DOE has devoted $3 million in funding for applied research on dilute CO2 capture (National Energy Technology Laboratory 2015), which can inform direct air capture approaches. Other mitigation-related research from the DOE is likely relevant to CDR technologies, including fossil CO2 capture, storage, and utilization research funded through FE, the Office of Science, and the Advanced Manufacturing Office, and a CO2 to liquid fuels program under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy 2016).
Funding Information:
Atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies may be critical to achieving deep decarbonization. Yet a lack of technical and commercial maturity of CDR technologies hinders potential deployment. Needs for commercialization span research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities, including development of new materials, reactors, and processes, and rigorous monitoring of a portfolio of demonstration projects. As a world leader in supporting science and engineering, the United States (US) can play an important role in reducing costs and clarifying the sustainable scale of CDR. To date, federal agencies have focused on voluntary or piecemeal CDR programs. Here, we present a synthesis of research and developement needs, relevant agency authority, barriers to coordination, and interventions to enhance RD&D across the federal government of the US. On the basis of agency authority and expertise, the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Science Foundation are most central to conducting research, funding projects, monitoring effects, and promulgating regulations. Key enablers for successful programs include embracing technological diversity and administrative efficiency, fostering agency buy-in, and achieving commercial deployment. Based on these criteria, the executive branch could effectively coordinate RD&D strategy through two complementary pathways: (1) renewing intra-agency commitment to CDR in five primary agencies, including both research and demonstration, and (2) coordinating research prioritization and outcomes across agencies, led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and loosely based on the National Nanotechnology Initiative. Both pathways can be stimulated by executive order or Congressional mandate. Executive branch implementation can begin at any time; future Farm and Energy Bills provide legislative vehicles for enhancing programs.
Funding Information:
We are indebted to Julio Friedmann, Noah Deich, Janie Wise Thompson, and Christopher Field for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. This work was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Funding Information:
We estimate that cumulative direct CDR RD&D funds in the US total $310 million, three quarters of which have gone towards CCS demonstration at biore-fineries (table 1). DOE, USDA, DOI, and NSF have funded CDR projects directly, alongside pathway technologies. As US R&D expenditures total roughly $140 billion each year, CDR RD&D represents a very small portion of US technology development efforts. Instead, these RD&D efforts are fragmented, uncoordinated, and nascent.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2018/1
Y1 - 2018/1
N2 - Atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies may be critical to achieving deep decarbonization. Yet a lack of technical and commercial maturity of CDR technologies hinders potential deployment. Needs for commercialization span research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities, including development of new materials, reactors, and processes, and rigorous monitoring of a portfolio of demonstration projects. As a world leader in supporting science and engineering, the United States (US) can play an important role in reducing costs and clarifying the sustainable scale of CDR. To date, federal agencies have focused on voluntary or piecemeal CDR programs. Here, we present a synthesis of research and developement needs, relevant agency authority, barriers to coordination, and interventions to enhance RD&D across the federal government of the US. On the basis of agency authority and expertise, the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Science Foundation are most central to conducting research, funding projects, monitoring effects, and promulgating regulations. Key enablers for successful programs include embracing technological diversity and administrative efficiency, fostering agency buy-in, and achieving commercial deployment. Based on these criteria, the executive branch could effectively coordinate RD&D strategy through two complementary pathways: (1) renewing intra-agency commitment to CDR in five primary agencies, including both research and demonstration, and (2) coordinating research prioritization and outcomes across agencies, led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and loosely based on the National Nanotechnology Initiative. Both pathways can be stimulated by executive order or Congressional mandate. Executive branch implementation can begin at any time; future Farm and Energy Bills provide legislative vehicles for enhancing programs.
AB - Atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies may be critical to achieving deep decarbonization. Yet a lack of technical and commercial maturity of CDR technologies hinders potential deployment. Needs for commercialization span research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities, including development of new materials, reactors, and processes, and rigorous monitoring of a portfolio of demonstration projects. As a world leader in supporting science and engineering, the United States (US) can play an important role in reducing costs and clarifying the sustainable scale of CDR. To date, federal agencies have focused on voluntary or piecemeal CDR programs. Here, we present a synthesis of research and developement needs, relevant agency authority, barriers to coordination, and interventions to enhance RD&D across the federal government of the US. On the basis of agency authority and expertise, the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Science Foundation are most central to conducting research, funding projects, monitoring effects, and promulgating regulations. Key enablers for successful programs include embracing technological diversity and administrative efficiency, fostering agency buy-in, and achieving commercial deployment. Based on these criteria, the executive branch could effectively coordinate RD&D strategy through two complementary pathways: (1) renewing intra-agency commitment to CDR in five primary agencies, including both research and demonstration, and (2) coordinating research prioritization and outcomes across agencies, led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and loosely based on the National Nanotechnology Initiative. Both pathways can be stimulated by executive order or Congressional mandate. Executive branch implementation can begin at any time; future Farm and Energy Bills provide legislative vehicles for enhancing programs.
KW - carbon dioxide removal
KW - innovation policy
KW - negative emissions
KW - research and development
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U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/aaa08f
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aaa08f
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85041129916
VL - 13
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
SN - 1748-9326
IS - 1
M1 - 015005
ER -