how much carbon dioxide does 1 kWh create?

Question

Let's say that any random electrical appliance used 1 kWh. How many pounds of carbon dioxide would that create?

That's really helpful, but do you know the exact measurement of each kWh making carbon dioxide? And by electrical appliance I mean household items like lightbulbs, refrigerators, etc.

Answer 1

It all depends on the fuel source for your kWh. If it is wind, solar, hydro or nuclear, then zero pounds of carbon dioxide are created.

Burning any fossil fuel produces CO2. This includes coal, natural gas, and oil fired generators. Read the link below for more details.

Here is a table that includes a "life cycle analysis" of CO2 emissions for various methods of powering an electricial generator. These numbers include manufacturing the generating equipment and processing the fuel. These numbers are in grams per kWh.

Coal = 800 to 1050
Natural gas (combined cycle) = 430 (average)
Nuclear = 6
Hydroelectric = 4
Wood = 1500 without planting other biomass
Photovoltaïc solar = 60 to 150
Wind Power = 3 to 22

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
how much carbon dioxide does 1 kWh create?
Let's say that any random electrical appliance used 1 kWh. How many pounds of carbon dioxide would that create?

Answer 3

It depends on the type of fuel that was used to create the 1 KWH of energy. If it was a coal fired plant it would produce more CO2 than if it was a gas fired plant.

Just for comparison purposes:

1 KWH = 3412 BTU.

One gallon of heating oil contains 138,000 BTU

So 1 KWH = 3412 BTU = 3412/138,000 = 0.0247 gallons of heating oil.

so for each KWH that you use, you are using the equivalent amount of energy produced by burning 0,0247 gallons of heating oil.
So if you use 700 KWH per month, that is the same as burning 17.3 gallons of heating oil.

Answer 4

It doesn't matter what kind of appliance it is, only the type of fuel, and the efficiency of the power plant that made that electricity.

Another thing to consider is that if the fuel was biodiesel, you could arge that no carbon was produced in net because the same carbon that is consumed by the growing plant to make its oils, is then liberated when it is burned.

Nuclear power doesn't produce carbon, but has other nasties I won't mention here.

Answer 5

Co2 Emissions Per Kwh

Answer 6

1.37 pounds on average