Chris Hogg wrote:
On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:41:23 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:16:19 GMT, "ARWadworth"
wrote:

Has anyone else filled in one of these besides me?

I just tried out http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/carboncalc/html/index.aspx

I gave up halfway through. I could calculate ours myself without too
much difficulty. I know on average how many litres of LPG we use per
annum, similarly how much diesel and how many units of electricity,
and we don't take holidays. I could work out the CO2 equivalents of
the LPG and diesel, given some grey matter activity, but calculating
the CO2 equivalent of the electricity would be more difficult given
the various ways it's generated (coal, gas, nuclear, etc). But it
would be easier if I could use instant conversion factors from the
web. Does anyone know them, or can anyone point me to a site that
does?

Typical power staion generates at about 25-30% (gas turbine) up to maybe
30-40% (coal or well made oil fired)

Nuclear is not any more efficient: it just doesn't release carbon dioxide.


Er....thanks, but I was looking for something like X kilos of CO2 per
KWh. I presume it would vary with supplier, as different suppliers use
a different balance of generating methods, but there must be an
approximate average figure which would be at least as accurate to use
as some of the assumptions in the govt calculator.

Well..a liter of oil weighs about* a kilogram, and costs about 50p to
heat yer house, and probably generates a kg of atmospheric carbon, or
whatever it is with the addition of two oxygen atoms - about 3 times its
own weight in carbon dioxide..

so thats a bout 2kg for every £ spent on fuel. I think gas is probably
similar.

Ad far as electricity generation goes, broadly with the sorts of
efficiencies seen 10 units of electricity give out the same heat as a
liter of oil, but will have been generated at probably about 40%
efficiency, so lets say that a unit of electricity takes about 250grams
of carbon..is that right?




* order of magnitude only..oils lighter than water and has a few
hydrogens attached.