How much CO2 does a coal-burning power plant emit?

How much coal does it take to produce one kwh of electricity?A typical coal burning power plant (500 Mw) uses 250 tons/hr2.5 x 102 x 2 x 103 = 500 x 103 lb/hr = 500 x 103 kwh/hrone pound of coal produces one kwh of electricity

How much CO2 is produced from a pound of coal?Coal averages ~65% carbonC (AW 12) / 0.65 CO2 (MW 44)0.65 x 44 / 12 = 2.4 lbs CO2 / lb coal

How much CO2 would be produced in one year?2.4 x 500 x 103 lb/hr x = 1.2 x 106 pounds of CO2/hr1.2 x 106/hr x 8000 hr/yr = 10 billion pounds of CO2/year

A natural gas-fired combined cycle plant reduces CO2 by half

How much CO2 does an average car emit?

• A gallon of gas weighs 6 lbs and the average car gets 22 mpg

• The average composition of gasoline is C8H18

• How much CO2 is produced per mile driven?- 6 lb/gal x 96/114 x 44/12 / 22 mi/gal = 0.84 lb/mi

• The average car travels 12,000 miles per year- 0.84 x 12,000 ~ 10,000 lbs CO2 /car/yr

• If an average coal-burning power plant emits 10 billion lbs CO2/yr, a power plant emits as much CO2 as 1 million cars

Equivalent Energy Savings

• Each of the following would save 50 billion pounds of CO2/yr, the equivalent of five average coal-burning power plants:

- Increasing average fuel efficiency by 0.5 mpg - Driving 0.5 mile less per day per vehicle - Each home does one less load of laundry per month - Each home air conditioner runs for 10 minutes less per day - Everyone daily

Uses a 15w CFL instead of a 60w incandescent bulb for 4 hoursTurns off a laptop computer for 4 hoursTurns off a desktop computer for 90 minutesTurns off a TV for one hour

Easy Factors to Remember

• One pound of coal produces one kwh of electricity

• One average coal-burning power plant emits 10 billion pounds of CO2 /yr or ~40,000 pounds/household

• One average coal-burning power plant = 1 million cars

• An average car emits 10,000 pounds of CO2 per year

• One typical electric car (25 kw) could power five typical homes (5 kw assuming peak is 4x average usage).