# Is electricity from a waste heat recovery system zero emission in my inventory?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/waste-heat-recovery-power-which-scope

Yes, in effect: power from a waste heat recovery system that you use on site adds no Scope 2, because you did not buy it, and adds no new Scope 1 unless you burn extra fuel to run it. The emissions behind the heat are already in Scope 1, from the kiln or furnace fuel.

## Why there is no separate figure for WHRS power

Scope 2 covers purchased electricity. Power you generate and use yourself is not purchased, so the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance gives it no Scope 2. The Corporate Standard counts emissions from your own generation in Scope 1. For a WHRS, the fuel was burnt for the process, and that CO2 is already in Scope 1. Counting it again against the electricity would double count.

## When it is not zero

- Auxiliary firing: if coal, gas or oil is burnt to boost steam in the WHRS boiler, that fuel is extra Scope 1.
- Blended plants: if the WHRS shares a turbine with a coal-fired captive boiler, split the output by steam source, or count all the fuel and treat the power as own generation.
- Fugitive leaks from the cycle, such as refrigerants in an organic Rankine cycle unit, are Scope 1 in CO2e.

## How to report it

1. Total electricity consumed, split into grid purchase and own generation from waste heat.
2. Scope 2 on the grid kWh only, at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh location-based for India.
3. The kiln or furnace fuel in Scope 1 as usual, with no deduction for the power made from its heat.
4. Units exported to the grid are not subtracted from Scope 1 or Scope 2.

## Carbon credits are a separate question

Lower grid purchases from WHRS cut your Scope 2. Whether the project can also earn carbon credits depends on an approved methodology, additionality and a registry's rules. Do not assume it qualifies, and do not claim the same reduction in your inventory and as credits sold to someone else.

## Worked example: a cement plant for one year

- Total electricity used: 10,000 MWh
- From WHRS: 3,000 MWh; from the grid: 7,000 MWh
- Scope 2: 7,000,000 kWh x 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh = 4,970,000 kg, 4,970 t CO2
- If the WHRS power were wrongly treated as grid: 10,000,000 x 0.710 = 7,100 t CO2, an overstatement of 2,130 t

Factor: CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0. Keep WHRS generation meter readings as evidence for the split.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reports purchased grid kWh as Scope 2 from your electricity bills, so WHRS power consumed on site adds no Scope 2, and it reads fuel invoices for Scope 1. Its carbon credit eligibility signals are a first screen, not a ruling that a WHRS project can earn credits.

- [Emissions saved by waste heat recovery](https://senseible.earth/answers/emissions-saved-by-waste-heat-recovery)
- [Manufacturing Scope 2 emissions in India](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/manufacturing-scope-2-emissions-india)
- [CHP emissions allocation](https://senseible.earth/answers/chp-emissions-allocation-electricity-and-steam)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (2015)](https://ghgprotocol.org/scope-2-guidance), [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Chapter 4](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-16.