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Revision History


Publications & Resources

This page describes the revisions and updates made to the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator since it was originally posted on EPA’s website in February 2008.

November 7, 2012

  • Sub region and national average non-baseload emissions rates: Updated the emission rates to reflect the updated eGRID 2012 version 1.0.
  • Passenger vehicles per year: Updated assumptions for vehicle miles traveled and average fuel economy based on the most recent available sources.
  • Home electricity use: Updated the electricity emission factor to reflect the updated eGRID 2012 version 1.0.
  • Railcars of coal: The average heat content and emission factors for coal have been updated to the most recent figures available.
  • Coal-fired power plants: The number of coal-fired power plants and their CO2 emissions have been updated based on eGRID 2012.

November 1, 2011

  • Coal-fired power plant emissions for one year: Deleted the conversion to metric tons, which is not needed in the final equation and was inadvertently retained in the text from a previous version of the calculator. The result shown was correct and has not been changed.

May 20, 2011

  • Update included new NYUP sub region and national average non-baseload emissions rates to reflect new plant level data consistent with the eGRID2010_Version_1.1 release. Further information on eGRID.

April 12, 2011

  • Electricity use: Modified the electricity use emissions factor to an unrounded value so it more closely matches the value given for the U.S. annual non-baseload CO2 output emission rate in eGRID2010 Version 1.0.

February 28, 2011

  • Electricity use: Updated the electricity use calculation when converting reductions of kilowatt-hours into avoided units of carbon dioxide emissions: the Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) U.S. annual non-baseload CO2 output emission rate was updated from eGRID2007 Version 1.1 to eGRID2010 Version 1.0.
  • Passenger vehicles per year: Updated the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per gallon of motor gasoline burned from 8.89 to 8.92*10-3 metric tons to reflect latest U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory data. This gives a result of 5.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per vehicle per year, consistent with EPA figures provided in the 2011-2016 light-duty fuel economy standards analysis.
  • Gallons of gasoline consumed: Updated the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per gallon of motor gasoline burned from 8.89 to 8.92*10-3 metric tons to reflect latest U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory data.
  • Barrels of oil consumed: Updated the heat content and carbon coefficient of crude oil to reflect latest U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory data. The conversion factor used in the calculator is unaffected by these updates and remains the same.
  • Propane cylinders used for home barbecues: Changed the percentage of carbon in propane from 81.8% to 81.7% to reflect the latest U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The conversion factor remains unchanged.
  • Railcars of coal burned: Updated the average heat content of coal and the average carbon coefficient of coal to reflect the latest U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. These updates change the conversion factor from 191.5 to 183.65 metric tons of carbon dioxide per railcar.
  • Coal-fired power plant emissions for one year: Updated the number of power plants using coal and their carbon dioxide emissions to reflect the latest eGRID data for 2007. These updates change the conversion factor from 3,850,479 to 4,023,304 metric tons of carbon dioxide per power plant.

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