Skip to content

US state carbon intensity still uses eGRID2016 data: update to eGRID2023 #1451

Open

Description

@ArshiaBajaj

Problem

On private infrastructure in the US (no Electricity Maps token), CodeCarbon converts energy to emissions with codecarbon/data/private_infra/2016/usa_emissions.json, which holds eGRID2016 state CO₂ rates. EPA has since published eGRID2023 (rev. 2, June 2025), and the US grid has changed a lot:

eGRID2016 (current file) eGRID2023 CodeCarbon overstates by
US average 998.4 lb/MWh 770.9 lb/MWh 30%
Georgia 1001.8 717.4 40%
Illinois 811.3 474.4 71%
New Mexico 1572.8 773.6 103%
Washington 186.8 266.6 understates by 30%
Idaho 188.7 313.9 understates by 40%

45 of 51 states (incl. DC) are overstated, 40 of them by more than 10%. Three Northwest states (Idaho, Washington, Oregon) are understated by more than 10%.

Proposal

  1. Replace the data with eGRID2023 state CO₂eq total output emission rates (STC2ERTA). CodeCarbon reports CO₂eq, and the old file used CO₂ only. The difference is under 2% for every state except Vermont, and I'm happy to use CO₂ (STCO2RTA) instead if you prefer.
  2. Add a small script (scripts/update_usa_emissions.py) that builds the JSON from EPA's official workbook, so the next eGRID edition is a one-command update. This is a small step toward the "clear process for updating this data" in Dynamic WUE / PUE / carbon intensity data #947.
  3. Update the methodology docs and the tests.

The file keeps the same schema (emissions in lbs/MWh + regionCode), so no code in emissions.py changes.

I'd like to work on this. I have a branch ready if this approach sounds good.

Activity

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions