Calculation of Carbon Emission

Version 2.
00 FDF February 2008 IS12 Page 1 of 3

INFORMATION SHEET 12
SOURCES OF ENERGY
As described in Information Sheet 3 you can choose between energy based
targets or CO
2
based targets. One of the advantages of CO
2
based targets
is that it gives you additional flexibility. This is because different fuels have
different carbon contents and by switching to one with a lower carbon
content you will contribute towards a CO
2
based target without changing the
energy intensity of your process.
For example, by simply substituting electrical heating with gas you would
reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 50% per unit of energy used.
Similarly, conversion from heavy fuel oil to gas reduces CO
2
emissions by
about 25% per unit of energy. Another example is replacing electrical
power from the grid with electricity sourced from renewables. Renewable
power could either be provided through the grid or via local generation. In
this case using renewables would provide two benefits: a) a 100% reduction
in CO
2
emissions in proportion to the amount of renewable energy used,
and b) a reduction in the amount of Levy paid, again in proportion to the
amount of renewable energy used.
Calculating CO
2
Emissions
When any fuel is burnt, energy is produced and carbon dioxide (CO
2
) and
other chemicals, mostly water, are produced. The ratio of energy produced
to CO
2
differs according to the type of fuel used. Table 5.1 shows the
carbon emission factor of different fuels, expressed as kg Carbon/kWh.
Table 5.1 Carbon Intensity of Different Fuels

Type of fuel kgC/kWh primary
Electricity (from grid) 0.0453
Natural Gas 0.0518
Gas Oil / Diesel Oil 0.0680
Heavy Fuel Oil 0.0709
Coal 0.0817
Liquid Petroleum Gas 0.0627
New Renewables 0
It may be seen for example that the carbon emissions per unit of energy
from burning natural gas are much less than those from the high carbon-
content fuels such as coal and oil.
Version 2.00 FDF February 2008 IS12 Page 2 of 3
Electricity is generated from a range of fuels including nuclear, gas, oil and coal. The figure
for grid electricity in Table 5.1 reflects the current mix of fuel sources used in UK electricity
generation. The carbon figure stated is per kWh of primary energy for electricity primary
energy is 2.6 times the delivered energy. Some power is generated from new renewable
sources such as wind or landfill gas. New renewables have a zero CO
2
emission.
To calculate the carbon dioxide emissions associated with your energy use, simply multiply
your primary energy use by fuel type by the appropriate factor from Table 5.1. If you
measure your energy used by weight or volume rather than directly in energy terms, then
you should first convert your fuel use to energy units using the conversion factors shown in
Table 5.2.
Table 5.2 Fuel Conversion Factors
Fuel Usual
Units
Conversion Factor Conversion Factor
units
Natural gas 00 ft
3
Depends on local conditions. See bill.
Electricity kWh 1.00 kWh/kWh
Gas Oil litres 10.6 kWh/litre
Light Fuel Oil litres 11.2 kWh/litre
Medium Fuel Oil litres 11.3 kWh/litre
Heavy Fuel Oil litres 11.4 kWh/litre
Propane kg 13.89 kWh/kg
Butane kg 13.69 kWh/kg
Dry steam coal tonnes 8,500 kWh/tonne
Anthracite tonnes 8,236 kWh/tonne
Coke tonnes 7,750 kWh/tonne
Nitrogen hcum kWh/hcum
Carbon dioxide hcum kWh/hcum
Steam kg Depends on conditions. Check with supplier.
Hot water kg Depends on conditions. Check with supplier.
Condensate kg Depends on conditions.
The following table of unit conversions may be useful.

To convert Operation Constant
From To
ft
3
m
3
multiply by 0.02832
therms kWh multiply by 29.31
MJ kWh divide by 3.6
Version 2.00 FDF February 2008 IS12 Page 3 of 3

Example: Lovely Lollies Ltd annually uses 1 million litres of heavy fuel oil in its boiler
house. What are the annual carbon emissions associated with this oil use? By how
much would the emissions be reduced by converting the boiler house to natural gas
firing?
Step 1. Refer to Table 5.2. The calorific value of heavy fuel oil is 11.4 kWh/litre.
Therefore the energy used in Lovely Lollies boiler house is given by:
1,000,000 litres x 11.4 kWh/litre = 11,400,000 kWh.
Step 2. Table 5.1 shows that 0.0709 kg of carbon are emitted per kWh of energy
derived from heavy fuel oil. The annual carbon emissions associated with this energy
use is:
11,400,000 kWh x 0.0709 kg/kWh = 808,260 kg of carbon.
Step 3. Refer again to Table 5.1. The carbon emissions per kWh of energy from
natural gas burning are 0.0518 kg/kWh. Hence if the same amount of energy were to
be derived from natural gas rather than heavy fuel oil, the carbon emissions would be:
11,400,000 kWh x 0.0518 kg/kWh = 590,520 kg of carbon.
Step 4. The emissions saving is (808 590) or 218 tonnes. This is 26.9% of current
emissions from combustion of boiler fuel.
Note that this calculation assumes unchanged combustion efficiency, which might not
be the case in practice.

Renewable Energy
Energy derived from new renewable sources are defined, for the purposes of the Climate
Change Levy and energy reporting to have zero carbon dioxide emissions. New
renewable sources are listed below:

Wind Energy Geothermal hot dry rocks
Hydro power up to 10 MW Geothermal aquifers
Tidal power Municipal and industrial wastes
Wave energy Landfill gas
Photovoltaics Agricultural and forestry wastes
Photoconversion Energy crops
Renewable electricity is available from many electricity supply companies and can be bought
in the same way as conventional electricity.

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