Emission factors
(Carbon) emission factors describe the amount of CO2 emissions emitted as a result of energy use. This section provides general information about emission factors in the ETM.
General
The emission factors for energy carriers may vary per region. For example, the (organic) composition of coal or waste depends on where these carriers are sourced and hence so does their CO2 content. Region-specific emission factors can be consulted via the Dataset Manager.
The emission factors for electricity, hydrogen and (collective) heat depend on the installed production technologies, which varies per scenario. For example, a scenario with a high total capacity of coal-fired power plants will have a more CO2-intensive power supply than a scenario with a high total capacity of renewable power. Furthermore, if carbon capture is applied to electricity production technologies using biomass as input, a carrier may have a negative emission factor. This, for example, applies to:
- Coal-fired power plants with biomass co-firing
- Gas-fired power plants using green gas
- Hydrogen production with biomass gasification technology
Imported carriers
The ETM calculates CO2 emissions via the primary emission method. Read more about the main principles of emission calculations here. As a result, the ETM assigns emissions factors for imported carriers that do not have direct emissions when used:
- Imported electricity
- Imported hydrogen
- Imported heat
- Imported ammonia
- Imported liquid hydrogen
- Imported liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC)
Go to the Dataset Manager to consult the region-specific emission factors for these imported carriers. The emission factors of imported hydrogen carriers, ammonia and heat can be changed in the Emission factors section of the ETM. For electricity, the emission factor can be adjusted in the Import/Export section of the ETM.