How Renewable Energy Avoids Carbon Emissions

Renewable energy projects such as wind, solar, biomass to energy, and micro-hydro reduce carbon emissions by displacing dirty power on an electricity grid. Every electric grid has what is called an emissions factor, the amount of pollutants a grid emits in order to produce a MWh of electricity. Thus, the amount of carbon emissions annually avoided by a renewable energy project is the product of the annual MWh output with the emissions factor.

It is important to note that, not all pollutants are in the form of carbon dioxide. Other pollutants are released into the atmosphere such as nitrus dioxide (NO₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂). To maintain consistency in calculating a grid’s emissions factor, these other pollutants are converted into carbon equivalents. For example, scientific studies have proven that one tonne of methane has the same environmental impact as 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide.