Evaluation of carbon footprint in steam and combined cycle power plants and comparison with coal-fired power plants

The increasing emission of greenhouse gases as the most crucial factor in global warming has made this a global concern in recent years. One concept proposed to better understand the amount of greenhouse gas emissions is the carbon footprint. Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases produced by a particular product or activity in its simplest definition. Since the power generation industry is one of the most highly emitting sectors, the study of carbon footprint has also become significant. This is primarily because fossil fuels are still the number one energy source for electricity generation, and even coal-fired power plants, which have the highest greenhouse gas emissions, will be the number one source in the coming years. They will still have a high share. Therefore, in the present study, while examining the concept of carbon footprint and its calculation method in the electricity industry, in a case study of South Khorasan province, the carbon footprint from steam and combined cycle gas and diesel power plants has been compared with Tabas coal-fired power plant. The obtained results show that the site's elevation according to the air density can have up to 10% impact the carbon footprint of the combined cycle power plant, and sites with low height should be chosen as much as possible. Also, the carbon footprint of the coal-burning power plant with a value of 968 grams per kilowatt hour is far higher than other fossil power plants with a value of 579 grams per kilowatt hour.