[AUTOMATED] Update average annual grid intensities

[github-actions]

• Updated average annual grid intensities
• Auto-generated .github/workflows/update-average-intensities.yml and data/functions/generate_average_co2.js

[fershad]

Sitting on this update for a bit. There's a pretty sharp jump in global average grid intensity, and so I've reached out to Ember Climate to ask them about this.

[fershad]

Reply from Nicholas Fulghum at Ember on LinkedIn:

That is correct. We have made a significant update to our carbon intensity calculations which hopefully helped to significantly increase their accuracy. Previously, we were using IPCC emissions factors by fuel that did not distinguish between countries or technologies. Our new factors are on a by country, by fuel, by year basis to more accurately capture coal and gas fleets, how they change over time, and where and how coal and gas is sourced.

Crucially, while widely used, IPCC factors were a significant underestimate, especially for emissions from coal generation. The IPCC, in its methodology, relied on calculations that assumed near impossible efficiency for future coal plants that does not accurately reflect current day coal generation.

We hope that our new approach will be more accurate and we're aiming to make our methodology fully public and reproducible in the near future.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7159163375023755264?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7159163375023755264%2C7161027041058775041%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287161027041058775041%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7159163375023755264%29