{"id":190,"date":"2020-06-15T07:12:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T11:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/?p=190"},"modified":"2020-06-12T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T17:27:10","slug":"environmental-impact-of-producing-a-kwh-of-electricity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aftansustainability.com\/blog\/environmental-impact-of-producing-a-kwh-of-electricity\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Impact of Producing a kWh of Electricity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does a kWh of electricity result in the same environmental impact regardless of where we generate it?<\/h2>\n
\"Sustainability<\/a>
Lisa Peterson is a professional Sustainability, ISO 14001, and Continuous Process Improvement Consultant with a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a previous article, we explained how an inventory of all inputs and outputs is necessary to conduct a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)<\/a>.\u00a0 In addition, we explained that the benefit of an LCA is to understand environmental impact.\u00a0\u00a0We also demonstrated that for corporations with facilities throughout the world, it’s essential to specify the location.\u00a0 Similarly, when inputs or outputs have various processing options, it’s essential to use the appropriate process option in the LCA model to get a valid and accurate result.\u00a0 For example, electricity is a typical input to most facilities, while waste water is a typical output to most facilities.\u00a0 In this article, we’ll look at two examples using electricity production and waste water disposal.<\/p>\n

Electricity Production Considerations<\/h3>\n

First, let’s look at an example that demonstrates why it’s crucial to consider where we produce a kWh of electricity. In this example, we\u2019ll use two of the commonly known midpoint impact categories of<\/p>\n