EFFECTIVENESS OF NON-CO2 GREENHOUSE-GAS EMISSION REDUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

Non-CO2 greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, can make a relevant contribution to the enhanced greenhouse effect, and hence e mission reduction is desirable. In emission reduction inventories, bot h the magnitude of the emission reduction as well as the specific emis sion reduction costs should be determined. The current knowledge of th e potential for and costs of reducing these emissions is still limited . Taking this into account, the following results can be obtained. Met hane emissions can be considerably reduced from underground coal minin g, oil production, natural gas operations, landfilling of waste, and w astewater treatment. Also emissions from enteric fermentation and anim al manure can be reduced substantially. The total technical potential for methane emission reduction (given the present activity level) is e stimated to be about one third. The economic potential, having net neg ative emission reduction costs, is estimated to be about half of this value. These reductions can be attained over a period of 10 - 20 years . The technical potential for the reduction of nitrous oxide emissions is currently estimated to be less than 10% Apart from the possibility of implementing existing techniques, there seems to be considerable r oom for developing techniques for more far-reaching emission reduction s both for methane and nitrous oxide.