Description
From the EPA website: "The Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) is a comprehensive source of data from EPA's Clean Air Power Sector Programs on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the United States.
The data includes emissions, emission rates, generation, heat input, resource mix, and many other attributes. eGRID is typically used for greenhouse gas registries and inventories, carbon footprints for electricity purchases, consumer information disclosure, emission inventories and standards, power market changes, and avoided emission estimates."
Questions this resource can help answer
- What are the emissions of power plants within my state (or city)?
- What are the characteristics of communities within 3 miles of a power plant in my city?
- What are the characteristics of communities downwind from power plants in my area?
How do I use this resource?
EPA provides four types of resources: 1) detailed emissions data at the unit level (MS Excel files), 2) summary emissions data at the eGRID subregion level (which are based on NERC regions and balancing authorities who match electricity supply and demand at a more granular resolution, 3) mapping tools for viewing data for individual units and socioeconomic characteristics of communities surrounding plants, and 4) an online data explorer which includes both graphical and tabular views. The data explorer is a powerful tool that allow users to view emissions trends at plant, state, or regional levels, and filter by fuel types.
Resource information
Technical specifications
Estimates are based on self reported annual emissions data for CO2, NOx, SO2, and Hg, ozone season NOx data from electric generating units (power plants) to comply with regulations, combined with generator characteristics taken from Energy Information Administration data. Aggregated data at the plant level are distributed to the unit level based on proportion of generation capacity reported for the units. For units not self reporting emissions, emissions are estimated using the heat input multiplied by fuel specific emissions factors.
Databases of emissions are provided in MS Excel format and require MS Excel or other software that can read MS Excel formats. EPA also provides the code used to estimate emissions in the R programming language.
