233C OP t1_ivovh9a wrote on November 9, 2022 at 3:15 PM

Reply to comment by austeritygirlone in [OC] Electricity gCO2/kWh vs Share of renewables in electricity (%) (1990-2020), in Europe by 233C

I should have marked each "start" differently". although (low renewable; high CO2) is a fair guess for a starting point.

> The strong negative correlation is expected.

As can be seen, some countries managed the same gCO2/kWh with much lower % renewable than others.

The "common wisdom" of "let's add more renewable and gCO2/kWh will lower" is worth checking up.
What good did it do Belgium to go from 2 to 25%?
France did without moving from 4-5% what Finland did from 22 to 50%.
Denmark and Austria are nearing 75% and still can't touch what France already had with less than 20%.
Would Argentina (less than 10%) will have a better gCO2/kWh if it had as much renewable as Turkey (45%)? Maybe not

mgmaqueda t1_ivp58id wrote on November 9, 2022 at 4:20 PM

I think those differences could mostly be explained with the share of nuclear in electricity for each country.

austeritygirlone t1_ivphmeu wrote on November 9, 2022 at 5:40 PM

And how carbon heavy the rest is, like gas vs. ignite.