Week 2 – Q&A Tutorial Workshop Questions

1. Carbon intensity of electricity is a measure of how much carbon dioxide is emitted per unit of electrical
energy and corresponds to the electricity source type.
Australia, heavily dependent on coal power has an average carbon intensity of: 250 tCO2/GWh
British energy mix, which has a large degree of wind power, has an intensity of: 170 tCO2/GWh
France, which has a very large nuclear fleet, has an intensity of: 120 tCO2/GWh
a): If an electric car needs 50 kWh for a full charge, how much CO 2 will be generated by that amount of
electricity in each country? Assume 100% efficient transmission and charging.
b): This electric car has a range of 220 miles – what would be the effective g CO2 per mile in each country?
c): A high efficiency diesel car of similar size has a fuel mileage of 75 miles per gallon – if a gallon of diesel
generates 12.2 kg of CO2 – how much CO2 per mile will this car generate in g/mile?

2. What was the main reason for the eventual domination of AC over DC in power generation? What is the
main reason that long distance transmission is carried out at very high voltage? Why does that effect how
energy is transferred over land?

3. The current UK target for decarbonisation of the energy sector is to reach 50 gCO 2/kWh by 2030. A company
wants to achieve this sooner by replacing some of its grid energy consumption with installed wind or solar
power (assume for this question there is no carbon intensity to renewable energy sources). If the company
annually uses 20,000 kWh of energy a year, how much renewable capacity would it need to install to bring
the overall carbon intensity of the business down to 50 gCO2/kWh, using the UK figures from Question 1.
Week 2 – Q&A Tutorial Workshop Questions
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3

4. In Question 3, the base case (starting point) had a business using 20,000 kWh of energy, all electrical, a year.
a): Approximately how much primary energy would this correspond to in GJ?
b): If it was suitable for this particular business, how much could a CHP theoretically reduce that primary
energy consumption to in GJ?

5. The same company which has, 500 employees, wants to reduce the climate impacts associated with working
on site by 15%. At the moment, the employees on average drive 10 miles each way to commute to the site,
a journey of 20 minutes clear or 45 minutes in traffic. As a starting point, every employee drives in
separately and drives a high efficiency diesel vehicle such as that found in Q1 c).
What strategies and initiatives can the company adopt to reduce energy usage and emissions? Suggest
targets for changes in behaviour that could reach the 15% target and what uptake would be needed?

6. [Discussion point] Can any of these strategies be transferred into wider society?