Concepts and parameters
Emission factors
Direct and life-cycle emission factors, and the emissionFactorType parameter.
To calculate the carbon intensity, the flow-traced electricity mix is matched with technology-specific emission factors. We offer two primary types:
- Direct Emission Factors (Operational): These only count the emissions released directly from the operation of the power plant (like burning fuel).
- Life-Cycle Emission Factors: These provide a thorough "cradle-to-grave" accounting. They include emissions from building the power plant, operating it, extracting fuel, and disposal at the end of its life.
The emissionFactorType query parameter controls this.
Possible values are:
lifecycledirect
By default, all carbon intensity endpoints return data computed using life-cycle emission factors.
You can read more about the methodology behind Electricity Maps' emission factors here.