page_title: Low-carbon power
section_title: Sovacool life cycle study survey
hierarchical_section_title: Low-carbon power / Power sources by carbon dioxide emissions / Sovacool life cycle study survey
caption_attribution_description: English: Mean value of nuclear power greenhouse gas emissions based on 2008 Sovacool study. The study was a survey of 103 life cycle studies of greenhouse gas equivalent emissions for nuclear power plants to identify a subset of the most current, original, and transparent studies. It includes the 1997 Vattenfall study.
context_page_description: Low-carbon power comes from processes or technologies that produce power with substantially lower amounts of carbon dioxide emissions than is emitted from conventional fossil fuel power generation. It includes low carbon power generation sources such as wind power, solar power, hydropower and nuclear power. The term largely excludes conventional fossil fuel plant sources, and is only used to describe a particular subset of operating fossil fuel power systems, specifically, those that are successfully coupled with a flue gas carbon capture and storage system. Globally, 35% of electricity generation comes from low-carbon sources. As of 2018 the largest low-carbon energy sources globally were hydropower and nuclear power, with the latter providing over 50% of low-carbon power alone in United States and European Union.
context_section_description: A 2008 meta analysis, "Valuing the use Gas Emissions from Nuclear Power: A Critical Survey," by Benjamin K. Sovacool, analysed 103 life cycle studies of greenhouse gas-equivalent emissions for nuclear power plants. The studies surveyed included the 1997 Vattenfall comparative emissions study, among others. Sovacool's analysis calculated that the mean value of emissions over the lifetime of a nuclear power plant is 66 g/kWh. Comparative results for wind power, hydroelectricity, solar thermal power, and solar photovoltaic, were 9-10 g/kWh, 10-13 g/kWh, 13 g/kWh and 32 g/kWh respectively. Sovacool's analysis has been criticized for poor methodology and data selection.
caption: Sovacool said that the mean value of CO2 emissions for nuclear power over the life cycle of a plant was 66.08 g/kWh.
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