Value chain · CLM-0820
In plain terms
For comparison in the same units, a 2002 Japanese study of space solar power reports about 22 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour for nuclear, 631 for gas, 846 for oil and 1,225 for coal, which it bases on earlier work by a Keio University research group rather than deriving them in the paper.
The claim as recorded
Table 6 gives lifecycle CO2 intensity for other generation technologies on the same g CO2/kWh basis as the SPS figures, split into operations and construction: nuclear power 22 total, being 19 operations plus 3 construction; liquefied natural gas 631, being 629 plus 2; oil 846, being 844 plus 2; and coal 1,225, being 1,222 plus 3; and the paper states that the comparison is based on earlier work of KEO's Research Group for Environmental Issues and does not show how the comparator figures were derived.
Scope and limits
CO2 only, and sourced from a separate earlier KEO study whose methodology, vintage and boundary are not described here, so this may NOT be used as an independent comparator set. The paper states distribution-stage CO2 is included for these comparators but NOT for the SPS figures in the same table, so the SPS advantage shown in Table 6 is overstated by an unquantified amount and the paper itself flags that the reader must allow for it. The comparators' vintage is not stated; reference [11] is a 1996 KEO monograph, and the paper's own SPS calculation uses that group's 1990 input-output tables (p.2), so the comparators are probably of about that vintage (our inference, not stated). They may not be used as current comparators; that role belongs to CLM-0854.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
Table 6 p.8, units g CO2/kWh: SPS-Baseline 0+20=20; SPS-Breeder 0+11=11; Coal 1222+3=1225; Oil 844+2=846; Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) 629+2=631; Nuclear power 19+3=22. Text p.6, closing sentence of section 6: "Table 6 compares the CO2 emission per kWh of electrical energy produced by SPS-Baseline, SPS-Breeder scenario, fossil fuels and nuclear power, based on earlier work of the Reseach [sic] Group for Environmental Issues in KEO [11]."
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-008 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0820
CLM-0820, Energy Aperture, as of 2002.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-216
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