Tiny Choices Q&A: How much carbon is in 1kW?
By Karina | August 7, 2007
Welcome to Tiny Choices Q&A, where we open the floor for discussion on questions which y’all have submitted (read the first list of questions here).
J. Cruz asked a great question:
I’ve seen a ton of “Carbon Calculators” out there, but I can’t seem to find out, say, what the carbon footprint of a kWh would be. I’m deep into tech-geekery, so the greatest opportunities for me to conserve is to cut the power consumption of my devices/servers/computers/lava lamps.
So? If I save 1 kWh, how much carbon am i keeping out of the atmo?
Different methods of power generation have different levels of carbon output. They range from very little (solar, wind, nuclear, and hydroelectric) to a whole lot (natural gas generation, coal-fired power plants). And that’s just talking about the emissions during generation, not the initial set-up carbon output (for example, from manufacturing the photovoltaic cells). As you’re from Pennsylvania, your power generation mix differs from the areas around you.
[aside: the electrical grid is much like the internets in that it is a series of tubes filled with electrons. an electron is an electron, so once the power is generated and put on the grid, you can't really determine where your electrons come from or how they were made. However, regional grids and local decision-making make your power generation mix relevant.]
Anyway, the answer to your question! From the Energy Information Administration, Pennsylvania has a CO2 emission factor of 1.26 lbs/kWh (2002 data). This is slightly lower than the US average of 1.34 lbs/kWh. The average household in the US uses 8,900 kWh/year for a total of 11,926 lbs of CO2 (or 5.963 tons, or 5.79 metric tons). [[edit: this number is under investigation! see the comments!]]
If you reach a point in your conservation where you can’t reduce the energy use any more, something you can do to reduce your personal carbon footprint is purchase “green power.” I don’t know if it’s available now where you live, but it could be coming soon! There’s a premium cost of a few cents per kWh, but it’s definately worth it. And! if you worked for the Eagles they would reimburse you for the premium! That is so wild. Also check out the GO GREEN feature on the Philly Eagles webpage!
If you’re not able to purchase green power, you could offset your home power use by using a service such as terrapass. There will be a later post all about offsets, I promise!
Thanks for the question, J. Cruz! I hope this helps!
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Thanks a lot! the Energy Information Administration tidbit was terrific!
An yes, you can buy “Wind Power” from PECO Energy, and I think I’m going to go with that (or maybe go and work for the Eagles!)
Hey J. Cruz– with all those devices plugged in, you could probably go a long way in reducing your phantom load, as well.
US average of 8900 kw/h pa !!!! woah that’s huge - what does that include? is it just household energy or lifestyle factors as well such as food miles, travel etc.?
In the UK its sub 5000 kw/h per annum - we benchmark 4500 kw/h when doing renewable energy feasibility studies. If we had consumption figures at 8900 kw/h per household, renewable enegy market would be booming as it makes the payback periods so much shorter
I have a local affordable housing association client who are building super efficient housing that is pushing energy demand down to nearer 3000 kw/h with no compromise to lifestyle. The advantage of this is it also means more bucks in the back pocket for the occupiers as it reduces their annual energy bills - therefore we get way better PR for green issues as it saves them money as well as the planet!
In my experience, if you are purchasing green power it pays to shop around - and look at the small print as to what they term green - some promise to invest the tarif into green energy projects but the energy comes from conventional sources such as coal whereas others gaurantee that the energy is sourced directly from green resources!
you know, I’m not sure about the 8,900 kWh - I don’t have the actual reference it refers to so I can’t check. I think it’s just electricity used, though, because this carbon footprint calculator says the average CO2 emissions per capita is 16,008 lbs annually (including travel, waste, etc). So for a household to have an average use of 8,900 kWh = 11,926 lbs CO2 it must be just electricity. Though now that I”ve spent another 15 min. looking into it, I agree, it seems really high. You can get a standard home energy offset for 6,000 lbs CO2 which would be the equivalent of roughly 4,500 kWh - what you stated above.
I’m going to continue to look into this and try and pin down a real answer! so far it’s difficult to come up with one, though, and I think it’s because there are really widely varied fuel sources in use in the US. Heating, for example, could be propane or fuel oil or natural gas or electric. All of these are generally similar in price, and are installed in new construction based on their current boutique cachet. I’m not sure how this diversity of energy sources stacks up with other countries and energy costs and availability.
[...] Many hair dryers use approximately 2000 watts of power to hurricane-dry your hair! If you blow dry your hair for 5 minutes a day every day of the year, you’ll use 60.6 kWh per year, or 81.3 lbs of carbon dioxide. That’s the equivalent carbon emission for burning 4 gallons of gasoline! (For more information about this calculation check out our Q&A on carbon outputs!) [...]