Comparing Electricity Technologies
Explore the environmental impact of electricity technologies in the US in 1998, comparing CO2 emissions from construction, fuel production, consumption, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning processes.
Comparing Electricity Technologies
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Presentation Transcript
Comparing Electricity Technologies • ‘98 US Electrical Consumption 3.6 million Gwhe • 35% of US Primary Energy Consumption • 2,200 million Mg of CO2 emissions • ~5,500 million Mg of CO2 total US emissions www.na-ygn.org
1998 Electricity Mix 52% Nuclear <0.05% 20% Coal Solar Others: Hydro Oil Geothermal Biomass 14% <0.05% Natural Gas Wind www.na-ygn.org
Construction • Manufacturing of plant components, including: • mining materials (ie: iron) • processing materials (ie: steel) • construction of components (ie: solar cells) • energy for transportation • Site construction includes energy for: • heavy machinery www.na-ygn.org
Construction(tons of CO2 per GWhe) 1.3 14 1.9 13 1.3 www.na-ygn.org
Fuel Production • Exploration: • energy required to find fossil fuel or uranium resources • Mining, Processing & Refining • energy and equipment requires to mine resources and convert it to usable fuel • Transportation & Storage • energy required • possible leaks (ie: natural gas) www.na-ygn.org
Fuel Production(tons of CO2 per GWhe) 17.4 0 9.5 0 77 www.na-ygn.org
Fuel Consumption • Burning fossil fuels is the biggest direct contributor www.na-ygn.org
Fuel Consumption(tons of CO2 per GWhe) 956 0 0 0 376 www.na-ygn.org
Operation & Maintenance • Electrical power is needed to keep plant running reliably • Energy is needed to perform maintenance on the plant • Equipment may need to be replaced • this new equipment has all the same GHG emissions as the new equipment (ie. Construction) www.na-ygn.org
Operation & Maintenance(tons of CO2 per GWhe) 4 8 2.2 4.1 4 www.na-ygn.org
Decommissioning • Energy required to dismantle power plant • Energy required to destroy or dispose of used components • Energy required to reclaim land • heavy equipment for earth moving • reforestation • etc... www.na-ygn.org
Decommissioning(tons of CO2 per GWhe) 0.2 0.7 1.4 0.6 0.1 www.na-ygn.org
Total(tons of CO2 per GWhe) 980 23 15 18 460 www.na-ygn.org
Assumptions • Coal: • Based on 1000 MWe baseload coal station • Gas: • Based on 450 MWe baseload equivalent gas station • Nuclear: • Based on 1000 MWe baseload nuclear station • Solar: • Based on 100 MWe facility located in the Southwest US • GHG emissions for decommissioning are based on known values for wind and estimated for solar through a comparison of solar and wind construction costs • Wind: • Based on 25 MWe wind farm without storage • storage would increase emissions in construction and O&M (slightly in decomm.) www.na-ygn.org