Energy Carbon Intensity
Definition
An emission intensity (also carbon intensity or C.I.) is the emission rate of a given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity, or an industrial production process; for example grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced, or the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions produced to gross domestic product (GDP). Emission intensities are used to derive estimates of air pollutant or greenhouse gas emissions based on the amount of fuel combusted, the number of animals in animal husbandry, on industrial production levels, distances traveled or similar activity data. Emission intensities may also be used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. In some case the related terms emission factor and carbon intensity are used interchangeably. The jargon used can be different, for different fields/industrial sectors; normally the term "carbon" excludes other pollutants, such as particulate emissions. One commonly used figure is carbon intensity per kilowatt-hour (CIPK), which is used to compare emissions from different sources of electrical power.
Wikipedia (2023-02-16)
→ Carbon Intensity of Electricity = number of grams of carbon dioxide to produce one unit of electricity a kilowatt per hour (kW/hour)
Sources with real-time grid data
Electricity Maps
Electricity Maps Visualization
https://app.electricitymaps.com/
updated hourly, 50+ countries
Visualization is open source: https://github.com/electricitymaps/electricitymaps-contrib
CO2signal API
API to get the most recent carbon intensity numbers for any country on Electricity Maps.
Free for individual users and developers.
API documentation: https://docs.co2signal.com
WattTime
https://www.watttime.org/explorer/#4/51.34/10.45
Live global coverage map
Carbon Intensity API (UK only)
https://www.carbonintensity.org.uk/
Sources with aggregated data
Agorameter
https://www.agora-energiewende.de/en/service/recent-electricity-data/
All data is usually entered within 48 hours.
Ember
Electricity Data Explorer
https://ember-climate.org/data/data-tools/data-explorer/
Many datasets including yearly CO2 intensity data per country.
Can also be used to compare countries or regions.
Our World in Data
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity
Chart and Map based on the data from Ember.
Visualizations
Animation: Carbon intensity of electricity consumption of the last 25 days (Twitter)
ElectricityMap Visualisations in R | by Grant Chalmers | The Kernel | Medium
