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Energy Carbon Intensity (I)

The carbon intensity of electricity is a measure of how much carbon (CO2eq) emissions are produced per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity consumed.

The only value that matters if you’re trying to optimise the scheduling of your computing in real-time is the marginal emissions intensity. This is the emissions intensity of the marginal power plant which will be turned up if you schedule some computing at that moment.

What are the different ways of finding out the carbon intensity value?​

Here are some techniques you can use to find out the value of carbon intensity.

1) API based techniques

This is when you integrate your software with APIs that provide the marginal carbon intensity at runtime or at delayed intervals (i.e every 15 minutes).

2) Lookup Carbon Intensity Database / Sources

This is when you get the marginal carbon intensity value from data sources or emission databases.

If the marginal carbon intensity is not available at runtime or delayed intervals for a given location/geography, you can go with monthly, quarterly or yearly average emission data based on data availability.

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