Footprint Factors¶
This page outlines the environmental footprint factors used in Wattnet's calculations, including their sources and methodologies for determination.
Carbon Intensity (gCO2eq/kWh)¶
| Wattnet Production Type | ENTSO-E Production Types | Class | Emission Level | Operational gCO₂eq/kWh | Life-cycle gCO₂eq/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biomass | Biomass | Renewable | High Emission | 10301 | 2302 |
| Energy storage | Not considered as Production Type itself | Storage | None | - | - |
| Coal | Fossil Brown coal/Lignite Fossil Hard coal Fossil Peat |
Non-Renewable | High Emission | 7602 | 9363 |
| Gas | Fossil Coal-derived gas Fossil Gas |
Non-Renewable | High Emission | 3702 | 4343 |
| Oil | Fossil Oil Fossil Oil shale |
Non-Renewable | High Emission | 6004 | 7785 |
| Geothermal | Geothermal | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 382 |
| Hydro River | Hydro Run-of-river and poundage | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 10.73 |
| Hydro Reservoir | Hydro Water Reservoir | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 10.73 |
| Hydro Pumped Storage | Not considered as Production Type itself | Storage | None | - | - |
| Marine | Marine | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 172 |
| Nuclear | Nuclear | Non-Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 5.133 |
| Other | Other | Non-Renewable | Medium Emission | 394 | 546.62 |
| Other renewable | Other renewable | Renewable | Medium Emission | 128.75 | 46.24 |
| Solar | Solar | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 36.953 |
| Waste | Waste | Non-Renewable | High Emission | 2404 | 5806 |
| Wind Offshore | Wind Offshore | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 14.23 |
| Wind Onshore | Wind Onshore | Renewable | Low Emission | 02 | 12.43 |
Sources (used in table)¶
- [1] IPCC 2006 (Official / Guidelines)
2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Vol.2 Ch.2
Year: 2006, Scope: Operational - [2] IPCC 2014 (Official / Report)
IPCC WG3 Annex III
Year: 2014, Scope: Operational & Life-cycle - [3] UNECE 2022 (Official / Report)
LCA Report - UNECE 2022
Year: 2022, Scope: Life-cycle - [4] Red Eléctrica de España (REE) 2021
Carbon intensity report
Year: 2021, Scope: Operational - [5] Gagnon et al. 2002 (Scientific Article)
Gagnon et al. 2002 DOI
Year: 2002, Scope: Life-cycle - [6] Zero Waste Europe 2019 (Official / Report)
ZWE Policy Briefing 2019
Year: 2019, Scope: Life-cycle
Note
"Other" and "Other renewable" values are calculated as averages of all other non-renewable and renewable production types respectively.
Additional References (not used directly in table)¶
- Parliament UK 2006 (Official / Report)
Parliament Research Briefing
Year: 2006, Scope: Life-cycle - French Agency for Ecological Transition (Official / Report)
French Agency Webservice
Scope: Life-cycle - WNA Report 2011 (Official / Report)
World Nuclear Association Report
Year: 2011, Scope: Life-cycle
Water Use per Electricity Production Type¶
| Wattnet Production Types | ENTSO-E Production Types | Class | Operation (Liters/kWh) | Life-cycle (Liters/kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biomass | Biomass | Renewable | 1.971 | 2221 |
| Energy storage | Not considered as Production Type itself | Storage | - | - |
| Coal | Fossil Brown coal/Lignite Fossil Hard coal Fossil Peat |
Non-Renewable | 1.571 | 2.862 |
| Gas | Fossil Coal-derived gas Fossil Gas |
Non-Renewable | 0.471 | 1.172 |
| Oil | Fossil Oil Fossil Oil shale |
Non-Renewable | 0.631 | 0.901 |
| Geothermal | Geothermal | Renewable | 0.121 | 0.131 |
| Hydro River | Hydro Run-of-river and poundage | Renewable | 0.001 | 0.03862 |
| Hydro Reservoir | Hydro Water Reservoir | Renewable | 32.811 | 32.811 |
| Hydro Pumped Storage | Not considered as Production Type itself | Storage | - | - |
| Marine | Marine | Renewable | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Nuclear | Nuclear | Non-Renewable | 2.041 | 2.261 |
| Other | Other | Non-Renewable | 0.942 | 1.438 |
| Other renewable | Other renewable | Renewable | 4.375 | 31.986 |
| Solar | Solar | Renewable | 0.101 | 0.5792 |
| Waste | Waste | Non-Renewable | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Wind Offshore | Wind Offshore | Renewable | 0.001 | 0.1562 |
| Wind Onshore | Wind Onshore | Renewable | 0.001 | 0.1752 |
Sources (used in table)¶
- [1] Vanham et al. 2019 (Scientific Article)
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab374a
Year: 2019, Scope: Operation & Life-cycle - [2] UNECE 2022 (Official / Report)
UNECE LCA Report
Year: 2022, Scope: Life-cycle
Note
"Other" and "Other renewable" values are calculated as averages of all other non-renewable and renewable production types respectively. Marine and Waste currently have no representative data and are set to zero.
Additional References (not used directly in table)¶
- UNESCO-IHE 2008 (Official / Report)
Water Footprint Bioenergy Report
Year: 2008, Scope: Life-cycle - Mekonnen et al. 2015 (Scientific Article)
DOI: 10.1039/c5ew00026b
Year: 2015, Scope: Life-cycle - Jin et al. 2019 (Scientific Article)
ScienceDirect Article
Year: 2019, Scope: Life-cycle - Institute of Global Sustainability, Boston University (Lin et al. 2019/2024)
Visualizing Energy Water Use
Year: 2019 / 2024, Scope: Life-cycle
Data Files¶
The footprint factor data files used by Wattnet are published at github.com/wattnet/wattnet-data/tree/main/footprint.