Australian electricity generation emissions drop by 14 million tonnes

• 11 years ago (2013-04-17)
• David Flin

Africa 322 Asia 894 Australasia 56 Biomass 8 Climate change 21 Coal 298 Cogeneration 1 Concentrating solar 5 Cyber security 8 Decarbonisation 1 Decentralised energy 6 Demand side management 3 Demand side response 2 Digitalisation 10 Distributed energy 10 Distribution 122 Electric vehicles EVs 4 Emissions 65 Energy management 2 Equipment 2 Europe 1089 Gas 394 Gas engine plant 64 Gas fuel 2 Horizon 2 Hydroelectric 17 Hydrogen 60 Hydropower 131 Latin America 80 Maintenance 3 Marine 1 Metering 2 microgrid 5 Middle East 327 North America 1021 Nuclear 660 Offshore wind 121 Oil 19 Operations 4 Policy 9 Regulations 3 Renewables 777 smart grid 2 Solar 273 Storage 45 substation 8 Tepco 2 Tidal 2 Toshiba 4 Transmission 191 US Senate Washington 4 Wind 257

---

Australia has released figures for its National Greenhouse Accounts, showing that the country’s carbon emissions from electricity generation fell by 14 million tonnes during 2012. The Accounts state that Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.2 per cent for 2012. Annual emissions for the year to December 2012 were estimated to be 551.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The decrease in overall annual emissions for the year was largely due to a decline in emissions from electricity, resulting from lower electricity demand and changes in the energy generation mix.

The Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory states that emissions from electricity generation were at their lowest level since 2001.

Over the full year, generation in the National Electricity Market from black coal reduced by 5.3 per cent, and brown coal generation emissions dropped by 7.0 per cent, with both seeing their lowest generation levels in more than a decade. Natural gas generation increased 6.3 per cent to its record annual level, and hydroelectric generation grew 20.3 per cent. Generation from other renewables continues to grow, jumping by 10.1 per cent, albeit from a small base.