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Carbon Footprint – An Environmental Sustainability Indicator of Large Scale CO2 Sequestration

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Abstract

To slow down the degeneration of the planetary life support system atmospheric CO2 concentration must be reduced. There are no insignificant CO2 emissions since all CO2 ends-up in a single atmosphere of finite size. To minimize anthropogenic CO2 emissions and to bring its atmospheric concentration to 320 ppm, the world economies should replace fossil fuels with alternative energy sources and construct large facilities for reduction of atmospheric CO2.

Environmental indicators (EIs) gauge the burden of goods and services on the environment. The carbon footprint (CF) is the EI of greenhouse gas emissions and is measured in terms of CO2 equivalent.

This chapter brings preliminary estimation of CFs for the following CO2 reduction technologies: photosynthetic or microalgae CO2 sequestration (MCS), artificial photosynthesis (AP), ocean iron fertilization (OIF), oceanic CO2 sequestration (OCS), and terrestrial CO2 sequestration (TCS).

OIF, OCS, and TCS should not be considered when constructing the large facilities for reduction of atmospheric CO2 because each of these technologies could easily become a source of greenhouse gases. The large facilities for reduction of atmospheric CO2 should rely on MCS and AP technologies and reforestation.

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Abbreviations

ACO2:

atmospheric CO2

CF:

carbon footprint

CFA:

carbon footprints of affluence

CFP:

carbon footprints of population

CFT:

carbon footprints of technology

CFAP :

carbon footprint of artificial photosynthesis

CFMCS :

carbon footprint of photosynthetic or microalgae CO2 sequestration

CFOCS :

carbon footprint of oceanic CO2 sequestration

CFOIF :

carbon footprint of ocean iron fertilization

CFTCS :

carbon footprint of terrestrial CO2 sequestration

CHC:

cost of chemicals

COC:

construction costs

CO2E:

carbon dioxide equivalent

EIs:

environmental indicators

EQI:

equivalent inhabitant

GHG:

greenhouse gas

GDP:

gross domestic product

GWP:

global warming potential

LAC:

labor costs

MCF:

median carbon footprint

MPI:

marketable product income

OEN:

cost of energy consumed, excluding energy used to transport CO2 or Fe

OMC:

operation and maintenance expenses

OTC:

other expenses

PI:

pollution intensity

TRC:

cost of energy to transport CO2 or Fe via pipeline, tanker or both

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environmental, Earth, and Space Studies, Bemidji State University, Sattgast Hall 107, Bemidji, MN, 56601, USA

    Dragoljub Bilanovic

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  1. Dragoljub Bilanovic
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Correspondence to Dragoljub Bilanovic .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Israel Institute of Technology Technion, Haifa, Israel

    Robert H. Armon

  2. Department of Physiology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Osmo Hänninen

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Bilanovic, D. (2015). Carbon Footprint – An Environmental Sustainability Indicator of Large Scale CO2 Sequestration. In: Armon, R., Hänninen, O. (eds) Environmental Indicators. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9499-2_4

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