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Estimation of Carbon Footprint

The carbon footprint is a measure of total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organisation, event or product.

The Kyoto Protocol has declared  six Greenhouse Gases(GHGs), including carbon-dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) in order to its parties to set targets .

 CO₂ is considered as the largest contributor to greenhouse emission with a contribution of 60 percent. Although most of organizations and people have paid their attention towards only CO₂, the non-CO₂ greenhouse gases collectively contribute around 40% to green house effect.

Advantages of carbon footprint calculation:

The estimation of carbon footprint requires to identify the sources of emissions from person, products and organization. It encourages to take appropriate measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and design future activities with minimum emissions. Carbon foot print measurements gives details on the progress after implementing appropriate measures.

Carbon footprint of an organization

It involves the measurements of greenhouse gases results from all the activities across the organisation.

Carbon footprint of a product

It accounts the greenhouse emissions over the whole life of a product from the raw materials extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use and final re-use, recycling or disposal.

Carbon footprint calculation

1)    Selection greenhouse gases: It depends on the guideline followed, the need

of carbon footprint calculation and on the type of activity. The carbon footprint calculation is mainly focused on the greenhouse gases with significant emissions and rejected the green house gasses with negligible emission.

2)    Setting boundaries: Organization bounders should be established to cover all the emission sources under its direct control. Once organization boundaries are established operational boundary should be selected. It involves the selection of direct and indirect emissions. Emissions are divided into following tiers or scopes.

                               i.            Direct emissions: Accounts for onsite emissions. Ex: Boilers, generators, incinerators, refrigerators and transportation within factory

                             ii.            Embodied emissions in purchasing energy: Electricity and heat

                          iii.            Indirect emissions: Transpiration of raw materials and finish products and business travel

Both tiers II and III are responsible for indirect emissions.

The estimation of only tiers I and II are considered as basic or primary carbon footprint. The estimation of tiers I, II and II are referred to as full carbon footprint.

3)    Collection of data: Carbon footprint is generally estimated for one year period. It is often expressed in carbon equivalents. Number of units of purchased electricity can be obtained from electricity bill of each month. Required volume of fossil fuel for onsite operations can be collected separately from the daily records of the factory. The share of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases are required to be converted into carbon equivalents. Then emission factors and models can be used to evaluate the carbon footprint based on collected data.

Measures to reduce carbon footprint

Industry: Methane or biomass should be used for boilers to produce steam instead of burning fossil fuels. The wall of the house should be insulated to keep warm. Natural ventilation should be used as much as possible rather than air condition or fans. Sky lights should be installed to harvest sunlight during day time. Low energy efficient fluorescent bulbs should be replaced by using high energy efficiency and long lasting LED bulbs. Purchasing electricity which results in emission of large amount of greenhouse gases should be gradually reduced. The energy requirements of industry should be gradually shifted into renewable energy including solar energy and biomass which results in less greenhouse gas emission. The local raw materials should be purchased instead of importing to eliminate the carbon emissions due to transportation from other countries. The required ingredient can be produced within factory rather than purchasing them from outside buyers. The food residuals from kitchen and left over from dining room should be used for produce compost to prevent emission of methane from open dump sites. Refrigerators which are used for cooling should be free of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The energy audits should be conducted to check shorts and fix them. Waste should be sent for recycling after proper segregation to minimize the continual production of new raw materials. The waste report should be prepared to identify wastage as a percentage of initial raw materials and take appropriate measures to minimize those wastage. Energy efficiency machine should be selected in the purchasing step. A forest plantation should be maintained to offset the carbon emission. Thereby it help to neutral carbon emission of the industry. Recycled or recyclable materials should be used for products and their packaging to minimize the production of new raw materials. Office vehicles should be provided for the transportation of the staff and the workers instead of their own vehicles. The transportation of finish products should be optimized to use the space in the vehicle more effectively. Portable tap water should be provided for drinking instead of bottled drinking water which causes large amount of greenhouse gas emission in filling bottles, production of plastic bottles, packaging and distribution. Regular awareness programs and workshops should be conducted for workers in order to reduce their individual carbon footprint within the industry. Double side of the papers should be used to avoid the carbon emission related to producing new papers. E-mails can be used to communicate with clients, buyers and other institution instead of posting.

Individual: Public vehicles or office vehicles should be used instead of private vehicles. It is better to use foot cycle or walking for short driving distances. If people can become vegetarian or reduce meat consumption, carbon emission related to raising livestock can be reduced because raising cattle causes more greenhouse gas emission than growing vegetables and fruits. Raw fruits and vegetables should be purchased from the market instead of processed foods. Water should be brought from home rather than regular purchasing of bottled water. Purchasing unnecessary goods and goods with unnecessary packaging should be avoided. Products with carbon labels should be bought. If the same products from different manufactures have been displayed their carbon label, the product with less carbon footprint should be purchased. Energy effect electric appliances should be purchased for home. Natural lighting and natural ventilation should be used as much as possible instead of use of bulbs and air conditions or fans. Peoples should be shifted gradually from non-renewable energy sources including fossil fuels into renewable energy sources. Solar panels can be installed on the roof top to harvest solar energy. Vertical garden or home garden should be maintained to natural the individual carbon footprint as much as possible. Lunch should be brought from home or purchased from canteen of the working place or restaurant near to work place to drive short distances. Household waste should be carefully handled to avoid biogas emissions results from degradation of biological fraction of waste. Products with high quality and long lasting life span should be purchased from the stores to prevent greenhouse gas emissions related to regular purchasing same product over and over again.