Model 4: Pipelines (IC4010)
The TICCS industrial class IC4010 (Natural Resources Transportation Companies) describes the pipe assets transporting natural gas or other resources. For this industrial class, we focus on the subclass IC401010 (gas pipelines), for which we can model emission predictions. We apply ABMs using manually retrieved, asset-specific data on an asset’s pipeline length (in km), its daily capacity (in TJ), and the annual volume of liquid transported by the pipeline (in Gm3). We used different EFs to convert the length, capacity, and volume into tons of CO2 emissions equivalent.
We estimate Scope 1 and 3 emissions for gas pipelines based on the following:
Scope 1 [tCO2e] = length of pipeline [km] x EF [tCO2e/km]
When an asset’s volume of transported gas is known, we calculate:
Scope 3 [tCO2e] = volume of gas transported [Gm3] x EF [kgCO2e/m3] x 1e6
When an asset’s volume of transported gas is unknown, we calculate:
Scope 3 [tCO2e] = capacity [TJ/day] x 365 x EF [tCO2e/TJ]
Scope 2 emissions are considered negligible because most gas pipeline compressor stations use gas directly to generate power and hence, do not employ electricity.
For oil pipelines (IC401020) and water pipelines (IC401030), Scope 2 emissions are considered negligible for the same reason. Additionally, the available data does not allow us to estimate Scope 1 and 3 emissions.