New web site compares power station emissions

A US think-tank launched a new web site yesterday that provides information on the carbon emissions from 50,000 power stations across the world.

The Carbon Monitoring for Action (Carma) web site represents the first global inventory of emissions from the power sector and is intended to drive improvements in power station efficiency.

Writing on the site's blog, David Wheeler and Kevin Ummel of the Center for Global Development, the group behind the site, said providing searchable information on individual power plants' and countries' emissions should help drive improvements.

"Our own professional experience, as well as plentiful research, has shown that public disclosure of critical information can have powerful effects on environmental performance," they wrote.

The site found that Australian power stations were the world's worst polluters per capita, producing five times more CO2 per person from generating power than China.

The US came second in the rankings on a per capita basis, but was the largest emitter overall. China came in second despite its low emissions per capita, while the UK came ninth in the rankings.