Web Release Date: June 11,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Building and Operating Electric Power Plants in the Upper Colorado River Basin
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Energy and Resources Group, University of California, 310 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, California 94720, and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 215 McLaughlin Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-1712
Received for review June 27, 2001
Revised manuscript received March 20, 2002
Accepted May 1, 2002
Abstract:
As demand for electricity increases, investments into new generation capacity from renewable and nonrenewable sources should include assessment of global (climate) change consequences not just of the operational phase of the power plants but construction effects as well. In this paper, the global warming effect (GWE) associated with construction and operation of comparable hydroelectric, wind, solar, coal, and natural gas power plants is estimated for four time periods after construction. The assessment includes greenhouse gas emissions from construction, burning of fuels, flooded biomass decay in the reservoir, loss of net ecosystem production, and land use. The results indicate that a wind farm and a hydroelectric plant in an arid zone (such as the Glen Canyon in the Upper Colorado River Basin) appear to have lower GWE than other power plants. For the Glen Canyon hydroelectric plant, the upgrade 20 yr after the beginning of operation increased power capacity by 39% but resulted in a mere 1% of the CO2 emissions from the initial construction and came with no additional emissions from the reservoir, which accounts for the majority of the GWE.
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