Cumulative Green-House Gasses (GHG) emissions as total measure of global warming potential

Abstract

Related to an energy unit, combustion of natural gas produces about the half of CO2 amount than coal. This however, does not necessarily mean that the greenhouse effect of natural gas fired power plants is only the half of that of coal fired. The pipeline transportation of natural gas over very long distances and leakage of methane, whose greenhouse impact is nearly 30 times greater than CO2, are responsible for significant emission of greenhouse gases. These factors can be assessed using the Life Cycle Analysis where cumulative emissions at all stages of mining, transportation and power generation are accounted for. It has been shown, that in Polish conditions, the total emission of greenhouse gases is comparable when Siberian gas and Polish coal is used in for power generation. The simulations took into account the lower power plant efficiency of coal fired plant than their natural gas counterparts, emission of methane from coal mines and emission of CO2 associated with the coal exploitation.