Natural Gas Power Carbon Footprint & Environmental Impact

Carbon Footprint:

• Lifecycle Carbon Footprint of Natural Gas based on NREL (2022A). Median value of 486 g CO₂e / kWh is based on a harmonized value from 58 studies with 93 unique values.
• Lifecycle Carbon Footprint of Wind Power is based on NREL (2022A). Median value of 13 g CO₂e / kWh is based on a harmonized value from 69 studies with 186 unique values. This value is combined from Onshore (12.2 g CO₂e / kWh) and Offshore Wind (19.3 g CO₂e / kWh) values reported.

Land Use and Land Use Change:

• The values for “Conventional Natural Gas,” “Shale Gas,” and “Tight Gas” from Trainor et al. (2016) are assumed for “Natural Gas” in the IEA Database. Based on EIA (2016), world Shale Gas production was 42 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), out of a total of 342 bcd/f, which totals 12.3%. Exact numbers are not available for the other fuel sources, and therefore a value of 10% is assumed for Coalbed Methane and Tight Gas combined. Therefore, Conventional Natural Gas is assumed to contribute 77.7% of world natural gas production in 2015.
• Based on Trainor et al. (2016) “Conventional Oil” has a value of 0.95 km² / TWh (0.95 m² / MWh), which represents 77.7% of estimated natural gas production, “Shale Gas” has a value of 0.19 km² / TWh (0.19 m² / MWh), which represents 12.3% of natural gas production, and “Tight Gas” has a value of 0.24 km² / TWh (0.24 m² / MWh), which represents 10% of natural gas production. The combined land use change factor 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.
• Square Footprint of Wind Power is based on Trainor et al. (2016). Value of 1.31 km² / TWh (1.31 m² / MWh) is reported in the study. Land use is 14.1 ft² / MWh over the 20 year expected lifespan (NREL, 2022B) of a wind power plant. The induced land use change resulting from 1 MWh is divided by the 20 year expected lifespan, which results in a land use change of 0.71 ft² / MWh (0.066 m² / MWh).
  • The value presented is representative only of the lifespan of 1 power plant, which is a conservative assumption, as it would be expected that a wind power plant would be replaced at the end of life and the land would be re-used. If, for example, one assumed a 100 year lifespan, which would result in 5 replacements of the wind power plant on the same parcel of land, the resulting land use change would drop from 0.71 ft² / MWh (0.066 m² / MWh) to 0.14 ft² / MWh (0.013 m² / MWh).
• 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 (2021B).
• Carbon Footprint of gasoline is 8.50 kg CO₂e / gallon, based on EIA (2021C).