The demand for these basic services can be influenced, but it is very fundamental and not easily changed. In particular, the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is a residual or by-product of our current forms of energy supply. It is not essential to meeting the demand for those basic human services. Therein, lies the promise of a longer term approach to supply side mitigation and the opportunity for lower carbon trajectories. Thus, when a longer term perspective is adopted, it becomes possible to change carbon trajectories in ways that do not imply a tax or equivalent restriction on the basic needs that create the demand for energy.
Lets look at removal and sequestration first.
Given this successful precedent, it is natural to ask why the same cannot be done with carbon dioxide. Technically, carbon dioxide can be removed from waste gas streams by methods analogous to what is done for sulfur dioxide, particulates and other criteria pollutants. Important as this problem is, the real obstacle is disposal, or the more apt term for carbon dioxide, sequestration. Unlike other pollutants, simply disposing of the captured pollutant in a less offending media is not adequate, it must be isolated or sequestered. The residue from particulate or sulfur dioxide removal is easily handled and lends itself to a variety of uses.