How clean is the electricity you use?

Question

The EPA has a pretty cool website where you can input your zip code and electric utility provider, and it tells you how clean the electricity provided to you is as compared to the national average.

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/how-clean.html

Mine is only 13% coal, nitrogen oxide emissions are 38% the national average, SO2 emissions are 11% the national average, and CO2 emissions are 64% the national average.

How clean is the electricity you use?

Answer 1

Thanks, great site...

Answer 2

I live in Manitoba where 98% of the electricity comes from Hydro and 2% from two small standby thermal plants, one gas and one coal.  The Manitoba government mandated the elimination of coal use in the province entirely.  I am working on a project to replace coal with agricultural residues.  Manitoba is also developing wind farms and small scale generating stations to make more hydro available for export (Manitoba has the lowest power rates in North America, so all exports are at a higher price than the internal market).

Answer 3

Not very my region is like 85% coal.

Answer 4

My electricity provider,Scottish Hydro, generate 30% by

Hydro & 10% by Windmill & thats the best I can get alltough I

pay a little more for it,cannot get planning for solar panels

Answer 5

That's a great website.

Sadly, mine is even wors than I thought--64% coal and 75% hydrocarbons of some kind--worse than the national average.  And the apartments I live in have natural gas on top of it (okay, I'm a grad student in a Red State--I don't have much choice at the moment!).

But people can still do a lot.  I sue space heaters and keep the gas heat off most of the time--CFLs--and have done what I can to improve the inslulation in an apartment that is basically a sieve. That's cut about 20-25% of my enrgy use.  And I'm fortunate enough to be amng the minority of Americaands with access to good public transportation (commuter rail) and don't even hav a car--or the bills! :)

My point is that everyone can do a lot--and its good for your bank account, too. Over and above what I save by not owning a car (maintainance, insurance, car payments) I save about $100 a month in reduced transportation and utility costs.  And its no extra effort. The biggest "inconvenience" is the living room is chilly in the mornings during iwinter.  Ofsetting that--I don't have to cope with the stress of driving in big-city traffic.

Answer 6

I get my power from clean resources.  The website doesn't have a calculator that shows the amount emissions that are released, but it does show how much CO2 you prevent.  This month I prevented 227lbs of CO2 from being produced.

For anyone who is interested, check with your local electricity provider or google "green up" and your area.  The costs are probably different throughout the country, but in the northeast, it adds 2.4 cents per kw hour.  It's only about $5-$6 extra a month for my bill, which I think is well worth what it saves.

EDIT:  You can also choose to get 50% of your electricity from clean sources if you can't swing the 100%.

Answer 7

Mine coal too. Pretty dirty,Where you think Acid Rain comes from, Bubbling smoke stacks of liquid S2O (Sulferdioxide)...! or maybe its really S3O(sulfurtrioxide)..............! PS check ATSDR

Answer 8

There is something amiss with that site.  If you enter a zip code in California, you get the following fractions for power:

Zip Code 95004 (note I have no idea where in CA this is)

60% of the power is generated using hydrocarbons

CO2 emissions are 64% of the national average.  

Zip Code 97202 (which is Portland, OR)

45% of the power is generated using hydrocarbons

CO2 emissions are 68% of the national average

The difference is the California numbers are average only over California, whereas numbers for Oregon are averages over Washington, Oregon, Idaho, 2/3's of Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, and most of Montana.  Plus, the state-by-state mix of power is constant over those states, which seems unrealistic to me.  For example, Nevada generates a tenth as much hydro power as Washington.  

My guess is this is supposed to make us all feel good about ourselves but is of little practical value in showing who is really producing clean electricity.  If it were a realistic chart, states like Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana would look horrible.  By blending them into the PNW, they look better.  

I wouldn't take those numbers to be very good for the NW states since the data is averaged over very dissimilar regions.  Power generation in Utah is very different from Washington.

edit:  Dana:  That is Custer County Montana, at the eastern edge of the state.  You'll note the eastern part of Montana is lumped in with the Dakotas and midwest so is not part of the NW region in terms of energy use.  Pick a city in the western part of Montana, Billings or Missoula, and it will have the same energy use as Portland or Seattle.  So there.  

As far as the coal/gas CO2 emission, I agree, but that doesn't explain the huge difference between carbon fraction and hydropower fraction for the NW region.  The site is ok, but the way they compute averages is a little disingenuous.  I think it should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

Answer 9

This is bogus.  It says that only 2% of my electricity is from non-hydro renewables and 73% is from coal, but I know for a fact that 20% of my power is supplied by a combination of wind, solar and small scale hydro.  But then again, this is about what I would expect from something run by a government agency.

Answer 10

MY ELECTRICITY IS CLEAN  I FILTER IT

http://avoidspikes.blogspot.com/2005/02/...

10% non hydro

15% hydro

14%nuke

1% oil

46% gas

13% coal

Answer 11

I live in West Texas.  There are wind farms all over the place here, and 10% of our power comes from wind. Plans to increase that percentage in the next couple of years are in the works.  We are hoping, within 5 years, to have a small acreage on which we can put our own wind generator.

Answer 12

Don't know how clean mine is but, I DON'T PLAN TO WASH IT. Sorry for this response.

Answer 13

hey, i see you're PG&E.

good stats.

interesting site.

on the other hand, there's not a lot we can do,

OTHER THAN specifying that we use Green Power,

in which case, PG&E will purchase power from some company that claims to generate green power.

Answer 14

Not very.  Too much coal, too much emissions.  

Thanks.

Answer 15

Our place is run by solar panels during the daytime, when we are sure to do our laundry and other electric-intensive tasks.  Relatively clean.

I wonder how much pollutants were created to make the solar panels.

I sometimes ridicule those snooty folks driving around their little electric cars.  I say to them, "Hey, a COAL powered car!  That's so retro!"  If they don't seem to get it, I mention the Four Corners coal-fired electric plants where our State gets much of its electricity.

Answer 16

OK TERRIFIC, THANKS FOR THE INFO.

Answer 17

Very cool site. My area is 49% hydro, 34% coal, and misc.  

However, I voluntarily pay an extra small monthly fee to my utility so that the amount of power I use comes from renewable green sources.