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Emissions factors are values used for scaling emissions to activity data in terms of a standard rate of emissions per unit of activity. Examples include:
- 11.2 kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted per gallon of oil combusted
- 209 kilograms of methane emitted per cow
- kilograms of methane emitted per mile driven
The emission factors used in your account can be viewed on 4 pages on the Data Entry tab:
- Emission factors - This page includes all scope 1, scope 3, and sink/offset emission factors. It does NOT include scope 2 or food emission factors.
- Utility emission factors - T his page includes all scope 2 emission factors (purchased electricity, steam, chilled water, T&D losses).
- Food conversion factors - This page displays all factors used in the food footprint calculations.
- Global warming potential - This page lists the GWP used for the major greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) and refrigerants/chemicals. The factors displayed vary based on the global warming potential version you selected on the Data Mgmt tab.
To tailor you result to better suit your campus, emissions factors can be customized.
The emission factors only populate when relevant/available for a given source. The eCO2 factor is a unique case—we only use eCO2 factors (i.e., factors that combine CO2, CH4, and N2O into a single eCO2 factor) for categories that only have reported emission factors in the eCO2 format. The only 2 sources that have eCO2 factors in SIMAP are paper and compost.
In general, we prefer to use emission factors broken out by CO2, CH4, and N2O to allow campuses to calculate emissions by pollutant and to be adaptable when new IPCC reports release updated global warming potential versions. All other categories will have emission factors across CO2, CH4, and N2O, when applicable.