international journal of greenhouse gas control 2 (2008) 130–135

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Short communication

Estimating local greenhouse gas emissions—A case study on

a Portuguese municipality

João Gomes a,b,*, Joana Nascimento c, Helena Rodrigues d

a
Departamento de Engenharia Quı́mica, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, R. Conselheiro Emı́dio Navarro 1, 1949-014 Lisboa,
Portugal
b
Centro de Engenharia Biológica e Quı́mica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Torre Sul, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
c
Oeinerge-Agência Municipal de Energia e Ambiente de Oeiras, TagusPark, Ed. Inovação 1, Sala 212-D, Porto Salvo, 2740-257 Oeiras, Portugal
d
Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Av. Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal

article info abstract

Article history: This paper describes the study that led to the development of a carbon dioxide emissions
Received 4 June 2007 matrix for the Oeiras municipality, one of the largest Portuguese municipalities, located in
Received in revised form the metropolitan area of Lisbon. This matrix takes into account the greenhouse gases (GHG)
11 August 2007 emissions, due to an increase of electricity demand in buildings as well as solid and liquid
Accepted 13 August 2007 wastes treatment, from the domestic and services sectors.
Published on line 21 September 2007 Using emission factors that were calculated from the relationship between the electricity
produced and amount of treated wastes, the GHG emissions in the Oeiras municipality, were
Keywords: estimated for a time series of 6 years (1998–2003).
Greenhouse gases emissions The obtained results showed that the electricity sector accounts for about 75% of the
Emission matrix municipal emissions in 2003. This study was developed in order to obtain tools to base
Energy options and actions to be undertaken by local authorities such as energy planning and also
Wastes public information.
# 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The main contributors regarding carbon dioxide are fossil

The increase of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is an
important and most concerning issue. Human activities are
currently based on high consumption of fuels such as oil and
coal, and are actually the major responsible for GHG
emissions, which can undoubtedly be related with climatic
changes. Therefore, in order to help overcoming these
arising problems and to define the required reduction
measures, it is necessary to perform exhaustive emission
inventories, not only at national level, but also on regional
and local scales.
fuels (such as oil, coal and natural gas) burning for electricity
production and its utilisation in industry, deforestation,
transportation systems, waste burning as well as evolved
gases from sanitary landfill. Actually, in Portugal, the major
carbon dioxide emissions are from fossil fuels burning for
electricity production which accounts for about 60%, while
energy for transportation accounts for about 21%, while the
waste sector is recently been responsible for growing emis-
sions, as pointed out by Pereira (2005).
This paper describes the study that led to the development of
a carbon dioxide emissions matrix of the Oeiras municipality,

* Corresponding author at: Departamento de Engenharia Quı́mica, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, R. Conselheiro Emı́dio
Navarro 1, 1949-014 Lisboa, Portugal. Tel.: +351 21 3850991; fax: +351 21 3850991.
E-mail address: jgomes@deq.isel.ipl.pt (J. Gomes).
1750-5836/$ – see front matter # 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S1750-5836(07)00098-9
 international journal of greenhouse gas control 2 (2008) 130–135
one of the largest Portuguese municipalities, located in the
metropolitan area of Lisbon. This matrix takes into account only
the emissions resulting from electricity and fuels demand as
well as waste treatment, which were found to be the major
significant contributors in Oeiras municipality. The aim is to
determine the resulting carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
(CO2eq), and determine the weight of Oeiras municipality in the
global Portuguese emissions as well as to delineate reduction
measures to be implemented thereafter.
2. Methodology
This study was aimed to determine the GHG emissions due
to electricity demand and solid and liquid waste treatment,
only accounting the emissions due to the domestic and
services sectors, which are the most significant in Oeiras
municipality.
Oeiras municipality currently has 159,930 inhabitants,
occupies an area of 45.84 km2 and has a high population
density of 3488.9 hab/km2, one of the highest in Portugal (CMO,
2005). It is mainly a residential town nearby Lisbon, having also
services and few small industries. Administratively it is part of
the metropolitan area of Lisbon, which occupies a whole of
3122 km2, having a population of around 2,500,000 inhabitants.
As a reference, Portugal has an area of 91,896.87 km2 and a
population of 9,980,000 inhabitants (INE, 2005).
In order to obtain the GHG emissions it was necessary to
calculate the emission factors. The latter was calculated
considering the relationship between the amount of con-
sumed electricity (ERSE, 2006) and the resulting emissions, at
national level (IA, 2005), as well as the relationship between
the amount of solid waste sent for treatment and its resulting
emissions, also at national level.
The calculated emission factors were, then, multiplied by
the respective amount of consumed energy and waste
(OEINERGE, 2006) sent for treatment in the council, thus
obtaining the resulting emissions.
The proposed methodology is then based on the existing
national inventory completed in 2005 (IA, 2005), referring to
the period 1998–2003, comprising national emission factors for
electricity consumption, expressed in gCO2eq/kWh, one per
each year.
Using these national emission factors and the electricity
demand, expressed in kWh, the CO2eq emissions are simply
calculated using Eq. (1):
emissions CO2 eqðGgÞ electricity
¼ electricity demand in OeirasðkWhÞ
 national emission factorðGg=kWhÞ (1)
Similarly, for other sectors considered, such as fuels
consumption in buildings, the CO2 emissions are calculated
using Eqs. (2) and (3), as follows:
emissions CO2 eqðGgÞ liquid fuels
¼ consumption of liquid fuels in OeirasðTJÞ
 national emission factorðGg=TJÞ (2)
131
emissions CO2 eqðGgÞ gaseous fuels
¼ consumption of gaseous fuels in OeirasðTJÞ
 national emission factorðGg=TJÞ (3)
In these two cases, the national emission factors were not
available, but had to be calculated by dividing the related
CO2eq emissions found in the national inventory (IA, 2005) and
the respective national fuels consumption reported elsewhere
(CRF-IA, 2005; ERSE, 2006).
Regarding solid wastes, the national emission factors were
also determined from the national inventory of CO2 emissions
(IA, 2005) and the amount of solid waste send to landfill at
national level (CRF-IA, 2005). The national inventory consid-
ered national CH4 emissions, which were converted into
CO2eq emissions using the methane heating potential as
follows (IA, 2005): CH4 = 21 CO2eq.
Then, the Oeiras municipality CO2eq emissions were
calculated using Eq. (4) as follows:
emissions CO2 eqðGgÞ solid waste
¼ amount of solid waste send to landfill in OeirasðGgÞ
 national emission factorðGg=GgÞ (4)
Actual amounts of solid waste in Oeiras municipality were
obtained from TRATOLIXO, the municipal solid wastes agency
(TRATOLIXO, 2006).
In what concerns wastewaters, the national inventory (IA,
2005) comprises the CH4 emissions due to wastewater
treatment. Again, national emission factors were estimated
by dividing the emissions by the amount of treated waste-
water, expressed as Gg CBO5, and then converted from CH4 to
CO2eq emissions.
Finally, the Oeiras municipality CO2eq emissions were
calculated by using Eq. (5), where CBO5 refers to the amount of
consumed oxygen in wastewaters due to biochemical
demand.
emissions CO2 eqðGgÞ wastewaters
¼ amount of treated wastewater in OeirasðGg CBO5 Þ
 national emission factorðGg=Gg CBO5 Þ (5)
Actual amounts of treated wastewaters in Oeiras munici-
pality were obtained from SANEST, the municipal water
treatment agency (SANEST, 2006).
After the Oeiras municipality emissions were calculated
they were compared with the same type of emissions at
national level in order to visualise and calculate the Oeiras
municipality contribution to the national totals, bearing in mind
both the lowest and the highest emissions obtained for this
municipality, considering that Portugal has 308 municipalities.
The contribution, at local level, of the emissions resulting
from each one of the concerned sectors was also calculated,
thus allowing to determine which is the sector who mainly
contributes to the municipality emissions.
Based on the analysis of the obtained results, it was
possible to define the intervention priorities as well as
emission reduction measures.
132 international journal of greenhouse gas control 2 (2008) 130–135

Table 1 – Electricity consumption (kWh), emission factors (g/kWh) and CO2 emissions (CO2eq, Gg) in Oeiras council from
1998 to 2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Electricity consumption (OEINERGE, 2006) (kWh) 381,073,354 426,035,171 449,221,334 487,892,491 500,556,788 539,421,587
Emission factor (g/kWh) 773.00 717.00 750.00 749.00 733.00 733.00
CO2 emissions (Gg CO2eq) 294.57 305.47 336.92 365.43 366.91 395.40

Table 2 – CO2 emissions in Portugal and Oeiras council (Gg CO2eq) resulting from electricity consumption from 1998 to
2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

National emissions (Gg CO2eq) 15,362 15,549 17,322 18,267 18,760 19,679
Oeiras council emissions (Gg CO2eq) 294 305 336 365 366 395
Estimated contribution of sector for national CO2 emissions 1.9–2.0%

Table 3 – Liquid fuels consumption (TJ), emission factors (Gg/TJ) and CO2 emissions (CO2eq, Gg) in Oeiras council from 1998
to 2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Liquid fuels consumption (OEINERGE, 2006) (TJ) 818.68 407.11 495.57 444.43 381.16 355.47
Emission factors (Gg/TJ) 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07
CO2 emissions (Gg CO2eq) 57.31 28.50 34.69 31.11 26.68 24.88

3. Results
The obtained results for Oeiras municipality, in what concerns
the amounts of electricity consumption and wastes produced,
as well as the respective emission factors, and also the Oeiras
municipality emissions are presented in Tables 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Tables 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 also show the comparison between the
Oeiras municipality emissions and the national emissions.
Table 11 shows the contribution of each sector to the global
Oeiras municipality carbon dioxide emissions. The discussion
of the obtained results is made in the next section.
4. Discussion
Regarding electricity demand what was taken into account
were the emissions resulting from electricity itself, liquid fuels
(LF) and natural gas (NG) demands as well as the emissions
resulting from sanitary landfill of solid wastes, solid waste
treatment by incineration and also wastewater treatment.
It should be noted that, within the Oeiras municipality,
there is no electricity production. Nevertheless, this munici-
pality is responsible for electricity demand which results in
GHG emissions located in the metropolitan area of Lisbon,
where this electricity is produced.
Regarding liquid fuels and natural gas, apart from GHG
emissions in the production location, there are also GHG
emissions in Oeiras municipality due to its use.
The transport sub-sector, either public or private, was not
completely treated in this study, at this stage, due to its
complexity: a detailed study of this sector would require
extensive data on vehicles (such as models, brands, age,
technology, etc.). Nevertheless, the transport sub-sector is
included in liquid fuels consumption. Also, the agriculture

Table 4 – CO2 emissions in Portugal and Oeiras council (Gg CO2eq) resulting from liquid fuels consumption, from 1998 to
2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

National emissions (Gg CO2eq) 38,436 39,341 38,672 40,084 42,024 38,102
Oeiras council emissions (Gg CO2eq) 57 28 34 31 26 24
Estimated contribution of sector for national CO2 emissions 0.0–0.1%

Table 5 – Gaseous fuels consumption (TJ), emission factors (Gg/TJ) and CO2 emissions (CO2eq, Gg) in Oeiras council from
1998 to 2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
a
NG consumption (OEINERGE, 2006) (TJ) 165.26 469.88 583.67 857.91 968.42
Emission factors (Gg/TJ) 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06
a
CO2 emissions (Gg CO2eq) 9.92 28.19 35.02 51.47 58.11
a
Note: no reliable data were found to produce an accurate estimation.
 international journal of greenhouse gas control 2 (2008) 130–135 133

Table 6 – CO2 emissions in Portugal and Oeiras council (Gg CO2eq) resulting from gaseous fuels consumption, from 1998 to
2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

National emissions (Gg CO2eq) 1441 5231 4288 5297 6540 6618
Oeiras council emissions (Gg CO2eq) 0 10 28 35 52 58
Estimated contribution of sector for national CO2 emissions 0.0–0.8%

Table 7 – Amount of waste deposited in sanitary landfill (Gg), emission factors (Gg CO2eq/Gg) and CO2 emissions (CO2eq,
Gg) in Oeiras council from 1998 to 2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Amount of waste deposited in sanitary landfill (TRATOLIXO, 2006) (Gg) 8.82 71.17 74.75 68.80 66.88 75.43
Emission factors (Gg CO2eq/Gg) 0.62 0.62 0.66 0.46 0.44 0.54
CO2 Emissions (Gg CO2eq) 5.47 44.13 49.34 31.65 29.43 40.73

Table 8 – CO2 emissions in Portugal and Oeiras council (Gg CO2eq) resulting from waste deposition in sanitary landfill,
from 1998 to 2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

National emissions (Gg CO2eq) 1389 1624 1621 1291 1464 1620
Oeiras council emissions (Gg CO2eq) 6 44 49 32 29 40
Estimated contribution of sector for national CO2 emissions 2.2–3.0%

sector was not considered as this sector of activity is not
significant in the municipality, being responsible for less than
1% of final electricity consumption in Oeiras municipality
(OEINERGE, 2006).
Other sector, identified by the United Nations, that are not
relevant for this study are Industrial Processes and Solvents
Use, due to the very low number of industries operating within
the municipality (CMO, 2005). Again, the sector of land use
change is not significant in terms of electricity consumption
(OEINERGE, 2006).
Therefore, the second sector comprised in this study will be
solid waste disposal. In fact, it was found out that the amount
of solid waste sent to incineration were quite negligible when
compared with the amount of solid waste produced and send
to sanitary landfill (OEINERGE, 2006), which led us to disregard
the resulting emissions from incineration and to consider only
the waste send to sanitary landfill. It should be noted that, for
the country as a whole, this assumption is acceptable.
In what regards electricity, its consumption in Oeiras
municipality has, a significant importance since the beginning
of the analysed time series, and is increasing until 2003. This
increasing trend is due to an increase of electricity demand for
several uses such as lighting, heating, electrical and informatics
appliances. The contribution of Oeiras municipality to the
national CO2 emissions due to electricity consumption varies
between 1.9% and 2.0%, which is an important contribution to
the global national emissions. It should be noted that Oeiras,
with a population of about 1.6% of Portugal, corresponds to a
disproportionately high percentage of emissions contribution
in some sectors, such as sanitary landfills. Regarding this sector,
its contribution to the national totals ranges from 2.2% to 3.0%,
whereas in Oeiras, the contribution to the total emissions was

Table 9 – Amount of wastewater send for treatment (Gg CBO5), emission factors (Gg CO2eq/Gg CBO5) and CO2 emissions
(CO2eq, Gg) in Oeiras council from 1998 to 2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Amount of wastewater send for treatment (SANEST, 2006) (Gg CBO5) na na na na 2.01 2.06
Emission factors (Gg/Gg CBO5) 3.81 3.64 3.41 3.28 3.19 3.12
CO2 emissions (Gg CO2eq) na na na na 6.40 6.43

Note: na—not available.

Table 10 – CO2 emissions in Portugal and Oeiras council (Gg CO2eq) resulting from wastewater treatment, from 1998 to
2003
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

National emissions (Gg CO2eq) 763.14 722.61 657.51 621.18 596.61 578.34
Oeiras council emissions (Gg CO2eq) na na na na 6.40 6.43
Estimated contribution of sector for national CO2 emissions 1.0–1.1%

Note: na—not available.

134 international journal of greenhouse gas control 2 (2008) 130–135

Table 11 – Relative contribution of each sector for Oeiras
council CO2 emissions for 2003
Sector
Electricity consumption
Liquid fuels consumption
Gaseous fuels consumption
Sanitary landfill
Wastewaters
lighting and traffic light systems by low power consumption
systems. Also incentives intending to promote substitution of
Relative contribution butane and propane by natural gas are previewed. Regarding
solid wastes, the local council is launching campaigns to
75%
5%
achieve a reduction on the amount of wastes send to sanitary
11% landfill, and in turn, increase recycling and composting.
8% Concerning wastewaters, the council intends to improve the
1% current wastewater treatment system, thus increasing pro-
cess efficiency and ameliorate the control system itself.

estimated in 8.0%. This allows the identification of sectors

calling for improvements to be made.
The consumption of liquid fuels in this municipality is
significant, since the beginning of the analysed period.
However, during this period, its importance decreased. This
particular sector is not a major contributor to the national CO2
emissions, thus contributing to 0.0–0.1% to the national
emissions, resulting from this sector.
The consumption of gaseous fuels has a considerable low
value in 1999 and increases, from then, to 2003. This increase
seems to be responsible for the decrease of liquid fuels
consumption observed during this period. The contribution of
this sector to the national emissions is rather low, ranging
from 0.0% to 0.8%.
The significance of solid waste deposition in sanitary
landfill grows, from 1998 until the middle of the time series,
then decreases and increases again in 2003. The influence of
this sector to the national CO2 emissions was estimated in 2.2–
3.0%, resulting from this sector.
Also, the contribution of wastewater treatment has some
significance and increases during the analysed time series,
which could be due to a increase of the amount of wastewaters
collected and sent for treatment that recently occurred in this
municipality.
The contribution of this sector to the national CO2
emissions ranges from 1.0 to 1.1%.
Estimation errors could be associated not with the
uncertainty of data, which are reliable, but with certain
pattern consumptions existing between Oeiras municipality
and the Portuguese average situation. Considering these
differences it can be estimated that the associated errors
are lower than 5%.
This type of studies becomes a very important tool in order
to define which are the sectors where particular actions are to
be undertaken, in the short-term, in order to achieve reduction
of CO2 emissions.
Naturally, these sectors can be found by analysing Table 11,
where the contributions of each sector are clearly identified. In
the Oeiras municipality, from the sectors studied, the most
significant contributors are electricity consumption, solid
waste treatment and wastewater treatment. This allowed to
derive specific reduction measures that are currently under
consideration. After these measures are put into practice, it
will be possible to update the obtained matrix and ascertain
the real effect of those measures in the effective emissions in
Oeiras municipality.
As there is no local electricity production in Oeiras
municipality, it is only possible to reduce CO2 emissions by
reducing electricity specific consumption rationalising its use.
Specific measures include the substitution of current public
5. Conclusion
From the performed study, it becomes evident that the CO2
emissions in Oeiras municipality, due to anthropogenic
causes, have been increasing following the national emissions
trend. This analysis also led to the conclusion that the most
significant increase occurs in the electricity sector. However,
the solid waste treatment sector has been gaining importance
in the global emissions scene.
As a whole, the CO2 emissions resulting from the production
and electricity consumption, as well as solid waste send to
landfill and wastewater treatment are globally increasing, with
slight fluctuations, and do follow the national trend.
It becomes evident that it is necessary to undertake specific
measures in order to overcome the problem and, thus, reduce
the CO2 emissions. Systematic studies such as this are
important tools to determine which are the prioritary sectors
where actions are to be undertaken, in the short-term, so that
a significant reduction of emissions could be observed. This is
a pilot study that could act as an example to be adopted by the
other 308 Portuguese municipalities in order to achieve
effective CO2 emission reduction, which is a type of action
that was considered (Rose et al., 2005) to be concurrent with
specific measures that are to be adopted at national level.
Therefore, the sectors which were subjected to specific
reductions measures are the ones which have the highest
contributions to the national CO2 emissions. In the case of
Oeiras municipality it was found that it is necessary to act, in
the short-term, in the sectors of energy production and energy
consumption, solid waste treatment and wastewater treat-
ment. Locally, it becomes evident that the predominant sector
is electricity, where reduction measures have already been
proposed and are currently under consideration.
After the implementation of the reduction measures, it will
be possible to analyse its effect starting from the emissions
pattern obtained in this study.
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Instituto do Ambiente, 2005. National Inventory Report. Lisboa.
Instituto Nacional de Estatı́stica (INE), 2005. Estatı́sticas da
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