Emission factors express the amount of greenhouse gases in tonnes of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases per unit of energy or use another unit expression (per weight or volume of product). In the next step, these factors need to be converted to the corresponding amount of greenhouse gases expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq.) Using the GWP of the gas. Some emission factors are nationally specific – for example, electricity depends on the national energy mix, which is different for each country and also changes over time. Similarly, for specific products (such as a computer), it is advisable to obtain the emission factor directly from the manufacturer of the product.

The degree of potential contribution of a given gas to the greenhouse effect. The unit is the contribution to the greenhouse effect of one molecule of CO2. Using these coefficients, it is possible to determine the so-called CO2 equivalent (recorded as CO2 eq., CO2 eq., CO2e), ie the amount of CO2 that would have an equivalent contribution to the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere.

Edit Emission Factors

Main sources

Additional sources

General

The factors come from BEIS 2020, with the exception of international grid factors and other factors described below.

Throughout this booklet, all emissions data in tonnes of CO2e are consistent with the emission factors used in the calculators.

All emissions from range 1 or 2 and range 3 as defined in the greenhouse gas protocol.

Factors include emissions from the extraction, processing and production of fuels, their transportation and other activities that are not directly present at the point of use, if available.

Further details on the extent of greenhouse gas emissions are provided below:

Energies

Network emission factors vary by country selected according to the residual mix of AIB factors for 2020 for European countries, Climate Transparency 2019 dataset for non-European countries, Australian and New Zealand figures from their respective governments, Canada from the UNFCCC and the United Kingdom from BEIS plus WTT for generations and t & d for all where this data is available.

Natural gas uses the gross CV value for kWh conversion

Coal – used domestic numbers

Diesel / Petrol – average biofuel blend factors used

Taxis based on vehicle-kilometers, not passenger-kilometers

Fuel oil – the “burning oil” emission factor is used.

Emails based on typical daily emails received / sent by office staff and expected, broken down into spam and with or without attachments (Radicati, Mike Berners-Lee)

Streaming data is based on typical data usage for TV services (via CDNs), 4K video, Zoom video, Skype video and music / podcasts, and KWh / GB data (Pihkola, Wandera, AndroidCentral) using country-specific network intensities (see above). Additional data works the same way.

OS / Application updates are based on the typical download of operating system and application updates for devices connected via Wifi.

Flights and land travel

Flights:

1 – Distances of large circular routes between pairs of IATA urban airports calculated according to latitude and longitude.

2-8% increase in distance as recommended by the GHG to allow for sub-optimal routing and stacking at airports during congestion periods.

3 – The conversion factors for air passengers are international

4 – RFI 1.9 is used by default

5 – An increase of 22% is included in the car / van / motorcycle manufacturers’ calculations to take account of real-world conditions.

Motorcycle courier emissions defined by the value Engines – average emissions

The journey by car on petrol / diesel is defined as the distance traveled by the vehicle, not by car (eg possible multiple occupancy and car sharing)

Transport and Logistics

Naval transport:

If no transport mode is selected, the model will be set to “General Cargo” by default

Type of air freight – domestic / short distance / international (as long distance). Defined according to the “Goods transport” sheet

Train Freight – Diesel / Electric Average

Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) – considered a diesel truck

Small truck / large vans – considered a van / light commercial vehicle – average of all vehicles

Taxi based on passenger-kilometers, not on total numbers for the whole vehicle.

The figures for diesel and petrol are for an average blend of biofuels.