How The Climate Registry's Carbon Footprint Calculator Works
Almost every facility operating emits greenhouse gas. To encourage enterprises to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, a carbon footprint calculator from The Climate Registry helps to pinpoint how to reduce carbon emissions. This calculator helps companies acknowledge greenhouse gas emissions and implement some measures which can help reduce such, setting benchmarks to track progress.
The Climate Registry is a nonprofit agency that sets uniform standards for calculating, verifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions into one registry. Membership in The Climate Registry is voluntary, however most North American states, provinces, territories and native sovereign nations are taking part in the effort to reduce carbon emissions.
The carbon footprint calculator from The Climate Registry becomes a very important tool which facilities can use during day to day operations, especially in areas where the greenhouse gas emissions is considerably high. Energy use, waste generation, purchased materials and transportation are among the main areas that play a major role in the emitting of harmful gases into the environment.
It is becoming increasingly critical for businesses to measure their carbon footprint. Our planet's current health and that in the future largely depends on it. Research shows that harmful gases could deplete the ozone layer which can contribute to global warming. Because these gases remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, steps must be taken now to slow their damage. Included in these measures are carbon emissions reduction.
The carbon footprint calculator measures gases proven to cause the most harm to the atmosphere. Included are substances such as perfluorocarbons (PFCs), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs),. Scientists say that such gases could add to the global warming, eventually leading to heat waves, rise in sea levels and irreversible damage to living things, if the problems are not addressed from source.
The carbon footprint calculator enables a business of any size to identify the extent of their greenhouse gas emissions, create an inventory management plan, establish goals and report their emissions as outlined under EPA requirements. The calculator is of particular importance to companies with multiple buildings or locations.
Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Emissions Factors (EF) for each emission source are some of the data which needs to be used as input in a carbon footprint calculator. Sources of carbon emissions can either be direct or indirect. Direct emissions are those from equipment or other sources owned or operated by a company, such as commercial refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) systems or heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Indirect emissions are used by a company during daily operations, but are supplied by another source, such as the use of electricity or heat. The total emission is factored by multiplying the EF and GWP numbers of each source.
Along with the complex set of information which will be used as input to the carbon footprint calculator, most enterprises which use AC/HVAC systems in stores, hospitals, warehouses, offices, and other facilities.are resorting to computerized refrigerant management programs that includes a carbon calculator which would make it an easier task to monitor, track, and report greenhouse gas emissions.