Carbon Footprint
Square Footprint
863 kg CO2e / MWh
48.4 ft2 Land Use Change / MWh
Carbon Footprint
Square Footprint
863 kg CO2e / MWh
48.4 ft2 Land Use Change / MWh
If the average US home's annual electricity (10.715 MWh) was powered by coal, it would use:
1,088
Gallons of Gasoline Equivalent
9,247
kg CO2e
If all of your home's annual electricity (10.715 MWh) was powered by coal, it would use:
1,088
Gallons of Gasoline Equivalent
9,247
kg CO2e
The Carbon Footprint of coal power is 863 kg CO2e per Megawatt Hour (MWh). The greenhouse gas emissions of coal power are 1.8 times higher than natural gas power.
If the average US home's annual electricity (10.715 MWh) was powered by coal for 10 years, it would result in a land use change equivalent to:
36
Parking Spaces Equivalent
5,210
ft2
If all of your home's annual electricity (10.715 MWh) was powered by coal for 10 years, it would result in a land use change equivalent to:
36
Parking Spaces Equivalent
5,210
ft2
Each year, coal is extracted from the ground, which results in land use change. For every Megawatt Hour of electricity produced by natural gas, there are 48.4 ft2 of land changed. The land use change resulting from coal power is 5.7 times higher than natural gas power.
Data and Assumptions
Carbon Footprint:
- Lifecycle Carbon Footprint of Coal Power is based on NREL (2022). Median value of 863 g CO2e / kWh for supercritical pulverized coal is based on a harmonized value from 53 studies with 164 unique values for all power generation types. The specific number of studies that state a value for supercritical pulverized coal is not stated.
- Lifecycle Carbon Footprint of Natural Gas based on NREL (2022). Median value of 486 g CO2e / kWh is based on a harmonized value from 58 studies with 93 unique values.
Land Use:
- Square Footprint of Coal based on Trainor et al. (2016). Study reports a land occupation of 8.19 km2 / TWh / yr (8.19 m2 / MWh / yr) for Open Pit Coal and 0.64 km2 / TWh / yr (0.64 m2/ MWh/ yr) for Underground Coal.
- Global Energy Monitor (2022) reports that the world produced 2,734 million metric tonnes (MMT) of coal by open pit mining, 2,619 MMT of coal by underground mining, and 112 MMT in mixed mining from operating mines in the January, 2022 update. Therefore, 51.07% of coal was mined open pit, and 48.93% of coal was mined underground.
- Based on this percentage, the weighted value for coal is 4.496 m2 / MWh, which equals 48.4 ft2 / MWh.
- As coal is an extractive resource, land use change occurs every year, and thus power plant lifespan does not affect land use change.
- Square Footprint of Natural Gas based on Trainor et al. (2016). The combined land use factor for all natural gas production methods is 0.79 km2 / TWh (0.79 m2 / MWh), which equals 8.5 ft2 / MWh. As natural gas is an extractive resource, land use change occurs every year, and thus power plant lifespan does not affect land use change. Land use change varies by the method of natural gas extraction. See the Natural Gas Power Carbon Footprint & Environmental Impact page for the assumptions made.
- Square Footprint of a Parking Space is 144 ft2, based on the average dimensions stated by Franklin Street (2019).
- Average 2020 US Household annual electricity of 10,715 kWh is based on EIA (2021A).
- Carbon Footprint of gasoline is 8.50 kg CO2e / gallon, based on EIA (2021B).
References
EIA: US Energy Information Administration. (2021A). How Much Electricity Does an American Home Use?. See Link to Source
EIA: US Energy Information Administration. (November 18, 2021B). Carbon Dioxide Emissions Coefficients by Fuel. See Link to Source
Franklin Street. (May 23, 2019). How Large is a Parking Space? See Link to Source
Global Energy Monitor. (January, 2022). Global Coal Mine Tracker – Summary Tables – Summary Table 12 – Coal Production By Mine Type (Surface, Underground). See Link to Source
NREL: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2021). Life Cycle Assessment Harmonization. See Link to Source
