Abstract
The paper presents a comparison of selected power technologies from the
point of view of emissions of greenhouse gases. Such evaluation is most
often based only on analysis of direct emissions from combustion. However,
the direct analysis does not show full picture of the problem as
significant emissions of GHG appear also in the process of mining and
transportation of fuel. It is demonstrated in the paper that comparison of
power technologies from the GHG point of view has to be done using the
cumulative calculus covering the whole cycle of fuel mining, processing,
transportation and end-use. From this point of view coal technologies are
in comparable level as gas technologies while nuclear power units are
characterised with lowest GHG emissions. Mentioned technologies are
compared from the point of view of GHG emissions in full cycle. Specific
GHG cumulative emission factors per unit of generated electricity are
determined. These factors have been applied to simulation of the influence
of introduction of nuclear power units on decrease of GHG emissions in
domestic scale. Within the presented simulations the prognosis of domestic
power sector development according to the Polish energy policy till 2030
has been taken into account. The profitability of introduction of nuclear
power units from the point of view of decreasing GHG emissions has been
proved.
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