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The relative contribution of waste heat from power plants to global warming

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  • Zevenhoven, R.
  • Beyene, A.

Abstract

Evidence on global climate change, being caused primarily by rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, is perceived as fairly conclusive. It is generally attributed to the enhanced greenhouse effect, resulting from higher levels of trapped heat radiation by increasing atmospheric concentrations of gases such as CO2 (carbon dioxide). Much of these gases originate from power plants and fossil fuel combustion. However, the fate of vast amounts of waste heat rejected into the environment has evaded serious scholarly research. While 1 kWh electricity generation in a typical condensing coal-fired power plant emits around 1 kg of CO2, it also puts about 2 kWh energy into the environment as low grade heat. For nuclear (fission) electricity the waste heat release per kWh is somewhat higher despite much lower CO2 releases. This paper evaluates the impact of waste heat rejection combined with CO2 emissions using Finland and California as case examples. The immediate effects of waste heat release from power production and radiative forcing by CO2 are shown to be similar. However, the long-term (hundred years) global warming by CO2-caused radiative forcing is about twenty-five times stronger than the immediate effects, being responsible for around 92% of the heat-up caused by electricity production.

Suggested Citation

  • Zevenhoven, R. & Beyene, A., 2011. "The relative contribution of waste heat from power plants to global warming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 3754-3762.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:36:y:2011:i:6:p:3754-3762
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2010.10.010
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    3. Ming, Tingzhen & de_Richter, Renaud & Liu, Wei & Caillol, Sylvain, 2014. "Fighting global warming by climate engineering: Is the Earth radiation management and the solar radiation management any option for fighting climate change?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 792-834.
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    8. Firth, Anton & Zhang, Bo & Yang, Aidong, 2019. "Quantification of global waste heat and its environmental effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1314-1334.
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    14. Chang, Depeng & Hu, Jianying & Sun, Yanlei & Zhang, Limin & Chen, Yanyan & Luo, Ercang, 2023. "Numerical investigation on key parameters of a double-acting free piston Stirling generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PB).
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