Power Sector Emissions Data
EPA collects continuously monitored CO2, NOX, SO2, and mercury emissions data from electric generating units (EGUs) to check compliance with a variety of federal air quality programs. EGUs are also required to submit operations data, facility information, monitoring plans, and quality assurance (QA) test information. These data comprise EPA’s Power Sector Emissions Data. EPA provides a variety of tools, detailed below, to understand and access the Power Sector Emissions Data.
Resources
Guide
- Power Sector Emissions Data Guide (pdf) : a useful starter guide for those interested in an overview of the data available in EPA's Power Sector Emissions Data, how the data are collected and quality assured, and how to download the data.
Crosswalk
- EPA-EIA Power Sector Data Crosswalk: EPA and U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) both collect substantial amounts of information about EGUs and maintain robust datasets covering facility attributes, operation, and emissions. The methodology to match the different unit IDs is available in R script and the results are available as a spreadsheet (xlsx) and delimited text file (csv).
Tools
- Clean Air Markets Program Data (CAMPD): a web-based application that allows you to create custom queries, view reports, and download data.
- Clean Air Markets API Portal (CAM API): these REST APIs allow you to access Clean Air Markets Program data directly from a tool (Excel) or your favorite programming language (Python, R, JavaScript, etc.).
- Field Audit Checklist Tool (FACT): a Windows desktop application that allows you to view all Power Sector Emissions Data for a single monitoring location (e.g., stack).
- Field Audit Checklist Tool Application Programming Interface (FACT API): a Representational State Transfer (REST) API that was created to support the FACT desktop application and intended for those who want to access the data directly from a data tool or programming language.
- Monitoring Plan Viewer (MPV): a website to view monitoring plan data and other facility information.
- Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID): a database that combines EPA's Power Sector Emissions Data and Energy Information Administration data in order to determine annual emissions and emission rates (lbs/MWh) at various aggregated levels in the U.S.
- Power Profiler: a web-based tool to calculate emissions from your electricity use based on eGRID data.
Analyses
- Monitoring Insights: brief analyses that provide insights into the Power Sector Emissions Data, such as the use of substitute data.
Frequent Questions
Which tool is best for me to use?
| CAMPD / CAM API | FACT / FACT API | MPV | eGRID | Power Profiler | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly Emissions | ✔ (API) | ✔ | ||||
| Annual Emissions | ✔ (API) | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Unit-Level Data | ✔ (API) | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Multi-EGU Analysis | ✔ | ✔ (API) | ✔ | |||
| Download Data | ✔ (API) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
What other data are available?
| CAMPD / CAM API | FACT / FACT API | MPV | eGRID | Power Profiler | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations | ✔ (API) | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Facility Attributes | ✔ (API) | ✔ | ||||
| Monitoring Plans | ✔ | ✔ | ||||
| QA Test | ✔ | |||||
How do I cite the Power Sector Emissions Data?
EPA suggests the following citation for its Power Sector Emissions Data:
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Power Sector Emissions Data.” Washington, DC: Office of Atmospheric Protection, Clean Air Markets Division. Available from EPA’s Air Markets Program Data web site: https://campd.epa.gov.
How do I cite eGRID Data?
The suggested citation can be found here.