Drawing No. EH–ES–012 // Environmental & Safety Engineering
Reviewed August 2026
Compare nuclear, coal, natural gas, hydropower, solar and wind across climate, water, health, ecosystem and resource indicators using a consistent UNECE life-cycle dataset.
Read before comparing: these are scenario-specific, cradle-to-grave model results—not universal properties of a technology. Compare values only within this consistent dataset and indicator method.
One functional unit · one consistent method
The model covers hard-coal and natural-gas generation with and without carbon capture, two hydropower scenarios, nuclear power, concentrated solar tower, ground-mounted polycrystalline-silicon and CdTe solar PV, and onshore and offshore wind.
Results are expressed per 1 MWh delivered to the grid and separate 15 midpoint indicators for climate, air pollution, ecosystems, human health, dissipated water and resource use. The optional combined view remains preference-dependent and never replaces category-by-category interpretation.
Each category is normalized independently
Cells show each result as a multiple of the lowest selected value in that category. Green means lower modeled impact within the current selection; it does not mean “impact-free.”
Optional, transparent and value-dependent
Set theme importance with the sliders. Use the compact category controls to include or exclude individual indicators.
Included categories are normalized to fixed dataset medians and combined inside their themes before the visible theme weights are applied. Selecting a category in the main chart automatically includes it here.
Europe point + matched 12-region technology range
The dark marker is the exact European scenario used throughout the tool. The orange interval is UNECE's published minimum–maximum result across 12 modeled regions for the same technology configuration. The ranges distinguish CSP tower from trough, the two hydro cases, PV variants and offshore-wind foundations; they are regional context, not a second full LCA matrix.
What the model includes—and what remains outside it
Climate, air, nutrient enrichment, toxicity, radiation, water and resource-use categories from one method-consistent table.
Land use remains withheld because UNECE corrected the indicator after publication and a complete corrected technology matrix is not safely available for transcription.
Biodiversity, noise, visual effects, severe accidents, waste stewardship, grid integration, storage, reliability and local water scarcity are not reduced to these midpoint indicators.
Meaning, units and interpretation limits
Four indicators covering long-term climate forcing, stratospheric ozone, ground-level ozone formation and particulate-related health effects.
Combines greenhouse gases according to their climate-change potential and includes fossil, biogenic and land-use-change contributions within the source model.
Interpret carefully: this is the full modeled life-cycle result, not only direct stack emissions and not a prediction of local climate effects.
Expresses the potential of emitted substances to damage the stratospheric ozone layer relative to CFC-11.
Interpret carefully: this concerns the protective ozone layer high in the atmosphere; it is different from ground-level photochemical smog.
Represents the potential formation of ground-level ozone from precursor emissions such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
Interpret carefully: the indicator is an ozone-formation potential, not a measured concentration beside a specific plant.
Models health effects associated with primary particulate emissions and secondary particles formed from precursor pollutants across the life cycle.
Interpret carefully: the result is a population-level characterization model output, not an observed count of illnesses caused by one facility.
Five indicators separating acidifying emissions, toxic effects in freshwater and three different nutrient-enrichment pathways.
Converts acidifying emissions—principally sulphur, nitrogen and ammonia compounds—into an equivalent potential to release hydrogen ions.
Interpret carefully: it estimates potential pressure on soils and waters; it does not predict the pH at a particular site.
Combines modeled chemical fate, ecosystem exposure and toxic effect to compare potential harm to freshwater organisms.
Interpret carefully: CTUe is a comparative toxicity indicator with substantial inventory and model uncertainty, not a measured river concentration or ecological damage count.
Represents the potential for phosphorus-containing releases to enrich freshwater systems and stimulate excessive biological growth.
Interpret carefully: it is phosphorus-equivalent potential; marine and terrestrial nutrient effects are reported separately.
Represents the potential for nitrogen releases to contribute to nutrient enrichment and oxygen depletion in marine environments.
Interpret carefully: regional transport, nutrient limitation and receiving-water conditions strongly influence actual consequences.
Measures potential ecosystem change caused by atmospheric deposition of reactive nitrogen compounds onto land.
Interpret carefully: this is not soil fertility or fertilizer value; excess nitrogen can alter species composition and ecosystem balance.
Three midpoint indicators covering modeled toxic effects and ionising-radiation impacts. They are not direct measurements of public exposure.
Combines modeled environmental fate, human exposure and carcinogenic effect factors for toxic substances released during the life cycle.
Interpret carefully: use it for comparative screening within the same method. It is not a site-specific risk assessment or an observed cancer count.
Applies the same fate–exposure–effect framework to potential non-cancer health effects from toxic releases.
Interpret carefully: toxicity results can be sensitive to incomplete inventories and characterization factors; small differences should not be overinterpreted.
Characterizes potential human-health effects from routine life-cycle radionuclide emissions using the ILCD U-235-equivalent reference.
Interpret carefully: it is not sieverts, individual dose, accident risk, radioactive-waste quantity or kilograms of U-235 released.
The source reports dissipated water. This is only one water dimension and must not be confused with abstraction or local scarcity.
Counts water made unavailable to the immediate environment, including evaporation or incorporation into products, across the modeled life cycle.
Interpret carefully: it is not gross withdrawal, discharge volume, water quality or scarcity-weighted consumption. A site-specific water assessment is still required.
Data and definition: UNECE Table 13 and Section 4.6 [1]
Two indicators describing cumulative non-renewable primary-energy demand and modeled depletion pressure for minerals and metals.
Totals non-renewable primary energy required throughout the life cycle, rather than only electricity consumed at the generating plant.
Interpret carefully: UNECE notes that the applied method groups uranium under “fossil,” although uranium is not a fossil fuel. The value is therefore labelled non-renewable energy demand here.
Converts the modeled depletion pressure associated with mineral and metal extraction into antimony-equivalent units.
Interpret carefully: this is not material mass, supply-chain criticality, recyclability, mine toxicity or geopolitical risk; those require separate indicators.
Important missing dimension: land use is not shown because UNECE corrected the published indicator and a complete corrected technology table is not available for reliable transcription. Biodiversity, landscape fragmentation and ecosystem quality also cannot be inferred from land area alone.
Boundaries matter as much as numbers
Construction, fuel supply where applicable, operation and end-of-life processes in the UNECE technology scenarios, expressed per unit of electricity delivered to the grid.
Additional transmission connections, system balancing, storage, catastrophic failures and several non-LCIA concerns such as noise, aesthetics, waste stewardship and some biodiversity effects.
The unit kg U-235 equivalent is an ILCD environmental characterization result. It is not sieverts, individual risk, actual U-235 released or an accident indicator.
UNECE counts water made unavailable to the immediate environment, such as evaporation. Water withdrawn and promptly returned is excluded; project-specific cooling performance can still differ.
The source warns that its cumulative-energy-demand method groups uranium under “fossil,” although uranium is not a fossil fuel. The tool therefore labels this category non-renewable energy demand.
Transparent by design
Fifteen impact values are transcribed from UNECE Table 14, except dissipated water, which uses the explicit two-significant-figure results in Table 13. This is intentional: Table 13 agrees with Section 4.6 and the report conclusions, while the Table 14 water column is inconsistent with them. Values originally stated per kWh are converted to the displayed per-MWh or per-TWh units by powers of ten only. The two hydro scenarios remain separate because reservoir emissions and site conditions can dominate results.
The complete indicator matrix represents European scenarios. UNECE also modeled 12 world regions, but it publishes many regional results only in figures. The regional panel therefore uses the report's configuration-specific climate minimum–maximum ranges and keeps the exact Europe values as separate points. This distinction matters: the 27–122 kg CO₂-eq/MWh range is for CSP trough, while the tower scenario used here has a 14–87 kg CO₂-eq/MWh range. The named USA and China coal endpoints use different configurations and must not be read as a controlled country-only comparison.
The optional index first divides every included indicator by its median across the complete 12-technology dataset. It calculates a geometric mean of the included categories inside each of five themes, then applies the visible theme weights through a second weighted geometric mean. All 15 categories and equal theme weights are the default; individual categories or whole themes can be excluded. This prevents categories with large numerical units, or themes containing more indicators, from dominating automatically. It does not remove the subjective judgement introduced by selecting categories, themes and weights.
The source models European scenarios representative of 2020. Results depend on capacity factor, lifetime, fuel supply, manufacturing electricity, geography and other assumptions. They should not be used as a procurement-grade LCA or transferred to a specific project without adjustment. Land use is withheld from this release pending a complete corrected technology table. Toxicity indicators have high model uncertainty and should be interpreted as comparative screening results.
UNECE — Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation Options (March 2022 edition)UNECE — corrigendum (July 2022)European Commission JRC — weighting for Environmental FootprintISO 14040 — LCA principles and frameworkISO 14044 — LCA requirements and guidelinesEuropean Commission — Environmental Footprint methods
Primary and official sources first
| Model element | Material used | How it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Fourteen impact indicators | UNECE electricity LCA [1] | European 2020 scenario values transcribed from Table 14 and converted from per-kWh to the displayed units. |
| Dissipated water | UNECE electricity LCA [1] | Table 13 values, checked against Section 4.6 and the report conclusions, replace the internally inconsistent water column in Table 14. |
| Regional climate context | UNECE electricity LCA [1] | Configuration-matched minimum–maximum climate ranges across 12 modeled regions. CSP tower uses 14–87; the 27–122 range belongs to CSP trough. |
| Land-use exclusion | UNECE corrigendum [2] | The corrected indicator is acknowledged but withheld because a complete corrected technology matrix is not available for reliable transcription. |
| Indicator names, units and interpretation | UNECE [1] and ILCD recommendations [3] | Defines the midpoint categories and reference units used in the selector, chart and category guide. |
| Combined screening index | JRC weighting report [4] | Supports the disclosure that normalization and weighting are optional and inherently value-dependent. EngineerHub's geometric aggregation remains its own transparent screening implementation. |
| LCA structure and limitations | ISO 14040 [5], ISO 14044 [6] and EU Environmental Footprint recommendation [7] | Supports the goal-and-scope, inventory, impact-assessment and interpretation framework and the need to disclose methods and boundaries. |
Six common interpretation traps
Life-cycle assessment estimates environmental impacts across construction, fuel supply, operation and end-of-life stages for a common functional unit.
Only after normalization and weighting, which introduce value judgements. The optional screening index makes both steps explicit, groups the indicators into balanced themes and remains separate from the primary category-by-category comparison. It is not an objective environmental score.
No. The complete indicator matrix is the European scenario. The regional panel uses UNECE's published climate ranges across 12 modeled regions and does not invent full regional datasets where numerical tables are unavailable.
The tool includes 15 of the 16 distinct midpoint indicators tabulated by UNECE. Land use is deferred because the source corrected that indicator. Biodiversity, noise, severe accidents, waste stewardship, grid integration and local water scarcity still need separate assessment.
No. It is an environmental impact characterisation unit used by the ILCD method, not a dose to a person and not a mass of U-235 released.
No. Dissipated water is water made unavailable to the immediate environment, for example through evaporation or incorporation into products. Water withdrawn and promptly returned is excluded.
Understand the evidence behind the tool
Continue the analysis
Reviewed 27 August 2026 against UNECE Tables 13 and 14 · Dataset version: UNECE 2021 / correction checked 2022
Describe the issue and identify the technology or indicator if relevant.