North American Power Plants

NORTH AMERICAN POWER PLANT AIR EMISSIONS

Resources

Related Websites

The Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID)
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
USEPA National Emissions Inventory
Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)
Statistics Canada (Energy Page)
Mexico’s Secretaría de Energía (SENER)
Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program

Emissions

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

Emissions of SO2 from fossil fuel-based electricity generation in each country are available here, along with other parameters such as electricity generation, emission rates and fuel type. Fuel types have been classified as Coal, Heavy Fuel Oil, Natural Gas and “Other Fuels” (the latter category includes fuels such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas, diesel, or coke). In the tables, data are sorted by SO2 emissions.

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)

Emissions of NOX from fossil fuel-based electricity generation in the three countries are available here. In these tables, data are sorted by NOX emissions; other parameters such as electricity generation, emission rates and fuel type are also included.

Mercury (Hg)

Mercury emissions from fossil fuel-based electricity generation in Canada, Mexico and the United States are available here.

Particulate Matter Emissions (PM2.5PM10)

Available data for this report included only the PM10 and PM2.5 fractions of the particulate matter emissions from power plants. Emissions of particulate matter from fossil fuel-based electricity generation are available for PM10 and PM2.5, along with other parameters such as electricity generation, emission rates and fuel type.

For the United States, particulate matter emissions data presented in these tables have limited coverage compared to the data for other pollutants (c.f. Section 2.1.3).

Greenhouse Gases (GHG) (CH4, CO2, N2O)

Emissions of GHG from fossil fuel-based electricity generation are available for CO2, CH4, and N2O along with other parameters such as electricity generation, emission factors and fuel type. For this report, only emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O are taken into account, as these are the main greenhouse gases released by fossil fuel-based power plants (see Section 3.3.5).

Project Glossary

  1. AP-42: Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors
  2. BTU: British Thermal Unit
  3. CACs: Criteria Air Contaminants
  4. CCME: Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
  5. CEC: Commission for Environmental Cooperation
  6. CEM: Continuous Emissions Monitoring
  7. CERR: Consolidated Emissions Reporting Rule
  8. CFCs: Chlorofluorocarbons
  9. CFE: Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Federal Electricity Commission), Mexico
  10. CH4: Methane
  11. CO: Carbon monoxide
  12. CO2: Carbon dioxide
  13. CO2-eq: Carbon dioxide-equivalent
  14. COA: Cédula de Operación Anual (Annual Report of Operation), Mexico
  15. CRE: Comisión Reguladora de Energía (Energy Regulatory Commission), Mexico
  16. CWS: Canada-Wide Standards
  17. DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid
  18. eGRID: Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database, United States
  19. eGRID2007: Version 1.1 of the eGRID database for 2005 data year
  20. EGUs: Electric Generating Units
  21. EIA: Energy Information Administration, United States
  22. EIAG: Emission Inventory and Analysis Group
  23. EPA: Environmental Protection Agency, United States
  24. ETS: Emissions Tracking System
  25. FERC: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (USA)
  26. GDP: Gross Domestic Product
  27. GHGRP: Greenhouse Gases Emissions Reporting Program
  28. GHGs: Greenhouse gases
  29. GWh: Gigawatt-hour
  30. GWP: Global Warming Potential
  31. H2SO4: Sulfuric acid
  32. Hg: Mercury
  33. HNO3: Nitric acid
  34. IEA: International Energy Agency
  35. INEM: Nacional de Emisiones de México (National Emissions Inventory of Mexico)
  36. IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  37. IPP: Independent Power Producer
  38. kg: kilograms
  39. kt: kilotonnes
  40. kWh: kilowatt-hour
  41. LyFC: Compañía de Luz y Fuerza del Centro (Central Light and Power Company), Mexico
  42. MJ: Megajoules
  43. Mt: Megatonnes
  44. MW: Megawatt
  45. MWh: Megawatt-hour
  46. N2O: Nitrous oxide
  47. NAICS: North American Industry Classification System
  48. NAPPAE: North American Power Plants Air Emissions Report
  49. NEI: National Emissions Inventory, United States
  50. NIH: National Institutes of Health, United States
  51. NO: Nitric oxide
  52. NO2: Nitrogen dioxide
  53. NOX: Nitrogen oxides [the sum of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), expressed as NO2]
  54. NPRI: National Pollutant Release Inventory, Canada
  55. OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
  56. PM: Particulate Matter
  57. PM10: Mass of particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 microns
  58. PM2.5: Mass of particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns
  59. ppb: parts per billion
  60. ppm: parts per million
  61. RFO: Residual fuel oil
  62. Semarnat: Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico)
  63. Sener: Secretaría de Energía (Secretariat of Energy), Mexico
  64. SO2: Sulfur dioxide
  65. SO3: Sulfur trioxide
  66. SOX: Sulfur oxides
  67. t: Metric tonnes (tonnes)
  68. Tg: Teragrams
  69. TPM: Total Particulate Matter
  70. TWh: Terawatt-hour
  71. VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds
  72. °C: Centigrade degree