Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much electricity was consumed by incinerators in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016; and how much (i) CO2 and (ii) CO2e was emitted as a result of that consumption in each of those years.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) does not hold data on electricity consumption at this level of disaggregation; however, for calculating the UK energy balance we estimate that on average sites generating electricity (including combined heat and power schemes) from waste use approximately 10 per cent of electricity generated for their own use.

Estimated electricity consumed for own use by sites generating electricity from waste⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾, 2015-16

Consumption (GWh)

(1) Based on data from DUKES table 6.4, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

(2) Biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. Non-biodegradable waste includes the non-biodegradable part of municipal solid waste plus waste tyres, hospital waste and general industrial waste.

Using emission conversion factors published by BEIS⁽³⁾, estimated emissions for own use by sites generating electricity from waste were:

(3) Emission conversion factors are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting