Carbon Footprinting: Scope 1

[Note: This Tip is related to Tip #50 from last month’s Plastics Engineering…]

“Scope 1” emissions are the direct emissions at a site—i.e., the emissions that a site directly causes and controls through assets. Typical emission sources are:

gas and other fossil fuels (heating and process fuels);
gas (for forklift trucks);
owned cars: this includes all cars provided for use by employees (leased or owned); if the site has control of the vehicle, then it is counted here;
owned trucks or vehicles: this includes all leased or owned vehicles; and
refrigerant emissions: chillers, compressed air dryers, and A/C units all contain greenhouse gases (refrigerants) and suffer from gas leakage.

All calculations need values for the relevant “driver”—for example, for gas, you need the amount of gas used (liters, kWh, or other measure) and the emission factor (amount of equivalent carbon dioxide (CO₂e) per driver) for the emissions source. There are a variety of sources of emission factors, but the most reliable and comprehensive set of data is that published by the UK government (www.defra.gov.uk/publications).

Action:

Quantify the relevant emissions in terms of their drivers.
Use the emission factors to calculate the amount of CO₂e for each emissions source.

Note: Dr. Robin Kent is the author of Energy Management in Plastics Processing, published by Plastics Information Direct, and managing director of Tangram Technology Ltd., consulting engineers specializing in energy management in plastics processing. rkent@tangram.co.uk.