A comparison of state-level estimation techniques for utility atmospheric emission factors
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
Atmospheric emission factors provide a link between the electricity saved in buildings and the associated decrease in fossil fuel use in the electric supply sector. Understanding this link is important to meet the requirements of Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy act of 1992, which established the voluntary program for reporting reductions in greenhouse gases. As part of the development process for Section 1605(b), several national workshops were held by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Workshop participants expressed the need for DOE to supply default atmospheric emission facets. Based upon the response from the workshop participants, it was decided that emission factors would be aggregated to the state level (e.g., California, Connecticut, etc.). Emission factors for electricity generation are generally quantified as a quantity of impact to an amount of fuel used to produce the emission. In the electric supply sector, factors are often expressed in units of pounds or tons of emission per megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity produced. In this paper, the authors examine and compare the estimates from three methodologies for developing state-level emission facets. In addition, they compare the results to those obtained using emissions data calculated by the EIA. Although the examples presented in this paper depict the development of state-level factors, the same methodologies can be applied by an individual utility to generate utility-specific atmospheric emission factors.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 110142
- Journal Information:
- Energy Engineering, Vol. 92, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Voluntary reporting of greenhouse gases under Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992
Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions: Voluntary reporting
Related Subjects
US NATIONAL ENERGY PLAN
COMPLIANCE
GREENHOUSE GASES
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
EMISSION
CALCULATION METHODS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
POWER GENERATION
CAPACITY
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
AVAILABILITY
FUEL CONSUMPTION
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
SULFUR DIOXIDE
NITROGEN DIOXIDE
NITROUS OXIDE