Greenhouse gas inventory for Applied Science & Technology, a private consulting firm specializing in thin film manufacturing, primarily for green energy devices as part of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Measuring and Minimizing the Carbon Footprint course. The inventory included Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, providing benchmarking of the company’s energy usage and recommendations for reduction of emissions.
2. Introduction
This report describes the greenhouse gas emissions inventory for Applied Science &
Technology Consulting LLC (ASTC), a private consulting firm specializing in thin film
manufacturing, primarily for green energy devices. The company was created in the fall of
2014 by Bruce Gittleman, who is the sole employee. The firm provides services that include:
(1) creation of new manufacturing paradigms, (2) process development, (3) assessment of
unit process, process integration, and manufacturing equipment, (4) process, equipment,
and consumable issue/failure analysis and (5) recommendations for process and equipment
quality control. Additional services for thin film and metrology capital companies include,
development of new applications and markets, creation of application notes, and customer
engagement and support. The firm works on varied projects for different lengths of time,
depending on the requirements of the clients. Applied Science is based out of a home office
in Centennial, CO. All work that can be done remotely is done in that office, otherwise Bruce
travels to the location of the client.
The purpose of this inventory to assess the impact of the firm’s operations and travel. The
impact of the travel is the main impact of the business. Because of the nature of the work,
the client is often traveling to work on equipment wherever the clients are located. This
often leads to frequent travel, so being able to quantify the effects of this aspect of the
business are imperative. Operations in the home office are minimal so travel is key.
This inventory covers the year of 2015; this is the first full year of operations for the
company. This time period also covers an approximately year and a half long project that
required consistent travel. This inventory will cover the office space used by the business
and the associated emissions from travel, by airplane and automobile.
Since the business’s operations consist solely of the firm’s chosen clients they are the most
important stakeholders. Additionally, depending on the project, ASTC may be involved in
the purchasing and assessment of the manufacturing and testing equipment. In these cases,
manufacturing, testing, and metrology equipment companies, sputtering target suppliers,
chemical products companies, specialty gas suppliers, and power supply vendors would all
be stakeholders as well. These companies all play a part in providing the source materials, as
well the manufacturing and testing of thin film devices.
Methods
For this report the World Resources Institute (WRI)1
: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol – A
Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard is the GHG protocol that will be used as a
framework. This framework was chosen because it is designed to specifically be used by
businesses.
Sources of greenhouse gas emissions included in this assessment are: emissions from
electricity and natural gas purchased for the home (including the office space) and
emissions from flights taken and miles driven for business purposes. The travel undertaken
1 http://www.ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard
3. for 2015 included a weekly trip from Denver, CO to Oakland, CA for most of the year. The
client drove his personal vehicle to a long-term parking lot near the Denver International
Airport and would take the van from the parking lot to the airport. Once in California, the
client will rent a car for the two to three-day trip to drive while there. The actual location of
the client is Concord, CA, which is an approximately 32-mile drive from the airport.
Global Warming Potential (GWP) and emissions factors for natural gas and all travel are
taken from the EPA’s Emission Factors for Greenhouse Gas Inventories, modified November
19, 20152
. Electricity emissions factors are the 2014 eGRID numbers for the RMPA (WECC
Rockies) region3
.
The client provided the electricity and natural gas utility bills for 2015 as well as his flight
records for the year and the receipts from filling the gas tank of the rental cars he used
while traveling in California. He also detailed the driving route from the home office in
Centennial, CO to the Denver Airport, approximately 44 miles. I totaled the monthly usage
from the utility bills to get the total usage for the entire year. Specifically, the utility bills
cover the time period of 12/31/14 to 12/31/15. I also created a spreadsheet for the travel of
the business including every flight and associated car travel; miles traveled to and from the
airport and during the trip. Using the number of gallons of gas purchased from the receipts
and the average fuel efficiency for light-duty vehicles in 20154
I calculated the miles driven
in California.
After totaling all activity data for the year, I converted the data into the appropriate system
of units (SI) that matches the selected emission factors. From there, I multiplied by the
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) conversion factors respectively
and used additional conversion factors to bring all figures to the same unit, metric tons.
After that, I used the GWP factors to combine the CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions into carbon
dioxide equivalent (CO2e), a standard unit that expresses the impact of each different
greenhouse gas in terms of the amount of CO2 that would create the same amount of
warming.
Since the utility bill data I was provided is for the entire house, I used the square footage of
the office as a percentage of the total square footage of the house to determine the
percentage of the emissions that can be attributed to the office. The client provided the
square footage of the office and home. The office is 144 sqft and the house is 3239 sqft,
meaning the area of the office is 4.446% house. After calculating the total emissions for the
house, I multiplied the total by 4.446% to find the emissions that are associated with the
business.
The travel for the year is mostly homogenous. The client traveled from Denver to Oakland
and back weekly for most of 2015. He took a total of 33 trips from Denver to Oakland for a
total of 66 flights. Additionally, he traveled to Oakland from Orange County twice. Using a
flight-mile calculator I determined that the flight from Denver to Oakland and vice versa is
2 https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/emission-factors_nov_2015_v2.pdf
3 https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-02/documents/egrid2014_summarytables_v2.pdf
4https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html
/table_04_23.html
4. 954 miles and the flight from Orange to Oakland is 370 miles5
. This means he flew a total of
63,704 miles for the year.
For automobile use associated with these trips there are additional assumptions taken into
account. The client drives from the home office to the Park Spot near Denver International
Airport (DIA) to park his car while he travels, then takes the Park Spot van to the airport.
These distances are easy to determine using Google Maps. While in California for business,
the client rents a car for the two to three-day trip. Using his receipts for gas from the trip,
specifically the number of gallons purchased, and an estimate of the average fuel economy
in the US for 2015 I determined the number of miles driven. This is just an estimate,
because the client was not tracking the actual fuel efficiency of the vehicle. These three trips
are separated in the analysis because for the drive to the Park Spot and from the Park Spot
to DIA there is a fixed number of miles. Since the conversion factor is in vehicle miles
traveled these numbers are more exact than the estimate of the mileage driven in California
for the reason explained above. Additionally, the ride from the Park Spot to DIA is in the
Park Spot Van which I am qualifying as a light-duty truck instead of a passenger car, which
was used for the other two types of automobile trips.
Results
The results of the analysis are shown in the chart and table below. The total emissions
related to the business are 11.723 metric tons of CO2e. For comparison, this is equivalent to
28,096 miles driven by an average passenger car or the CO2 emissions from 1.2 houses for
the entire year. The major hot spot of this analysis are the emissions related to flights taken,
accounting for 78.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions. The next largest category is from
the miles driven in California. Emissions from the office space only account for 4.1% of total
emissions.
5
http://www.webflyer.com/travel/mileage_calculator/
0.482
0.004
9.199
0.513 0.145
1.380
0.000
1.000
2.000
3.000
4.000
5.000
6.000
7.000
8.000
9.000
10.000
Electricity Natural
Gas
Flights Ofiice to
Parking
Spot
Parking
Spot to
Airport
Driving in
CA
MetricTonsofCO2e
GHG Emissions Source/Activty
CO2e Emissions per Source/Activty
Greenhouse Gas
Total Metric
Tons
CO2 9.7582045
CH4 3.58116E-05
N2O 0.000327254
5. Recommendations
Since the bulk of emissions, 96%, come from combined travel this area is where I will focus
on for areas of opportunity to reduce emissions. The largest source of emissions is obviously
from flights. To the extent possible I recommend reducing travel, by completing as much
work remotely as possible and choosing projects that are closer to the home office. Since
there is often no choice when it comes to the location of a project, one solution would be to
buy carbon offsets for the unavoidable flights. This would only have cost $1256
for the year
to offset the 63,704 passenger miles resulting from the 68 flights taken.
Since there are not any feasible changes to the driving in Colorado, because the client owns
his car and the cost to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle would be cost prohibitive, the
recommendations will focus on the rental cars used while traveling. This is an area where
the client does have some control. I recommend always choosing the most fuel-efficient
vehicles while traveling.
If the client wanted to look at reducing emissions in the office I would recommend
conducting an energy audit to look for potential energy efficiency savings. The total house
emissions are equivalent above average, there is most likely some opportunities for savings.
Since the client is already tracking all travel and utility usage for business purposes I would
recommend to continue tracking emissions year over year to see how they change with
time and with the various client projects. In order to more accurately track emissions, I
would recommend tracking the actual mileage or fuel efficiency of the driving done in
California instead of just the gas usage.
Conclusion
Having a client who keeps detailed records of their business was a real asset to the smooth
completion of this project. I also learned that having open communication and knowing
what questions to ask and what sources of data you need are critical. During the initial
assessment, the list of relevant stakeholders seemed to only include the firm’s clients but
through additional conversations the extent to which the firm has an impact over the
equipment and materials bought revealed additional stakeholders in the supply chain.
Applied Science and Technology’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions come from
business travel. The total emissions related to this consulting firm for the year of 2015 are
equivalent to the yearly energy usage of 1.2 homes7
. For the size and scope of this business
the number of emissions are reasonable but can be improved by reducing travel and taking
advantage of energy efficiency opportunities in vehicle usage and in the office.
6 https://www.terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator
7 https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
6. Sources:
• https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
• https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/emission-
factors_nov_2015_v2.pdf
• https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-
02/documents/egrid2014_summarytables_v2.pdf
• https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_tr
ansportation_statistics/html/table_04_23.htm
• https://www.terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator
• http://www.webflyer.com/travel/mileage_calculator/
• http://www.ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard
Appendix
Electricity Emission Factors
eGRID Subregion
Total Output Emission Factors
CO2 Factor CH4 Factor N2O Factor
lb CO2/MWH lb CH4/GWH lb N2O/GWH
RMPA (WECC
Rockies) 1737.7 178.2 25.8
Business Travel Emission Factors
Vehicle Type
CO2 Factor CH4 Factor N2O Factor
Unitskg/unit g/unit g/unit
Passenger Car 0.355 0.021 0.015 vehicle-mile
Light-Duty
Truck 0.485 0.02 0.022 vehicle-mile
Air Travel -
Medium Haul
(>=300 miles,
<2300 miles) 0.143 0 0.0047
passenger-
mile
Natural Gas Emissions Factors
Fuel Type
CO2 Factor CH4 Factor N2O Factor
kg CO2/MMBtu g CH4/MMBtu g N2O/MMBtu
Natural
Gas 53.06 1 0.1
Greenhouse Gas Warming Potential8
CO2 1
CH4 25
N2O 298
8 https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/emission-factors_nov_2015_v2.pdf
7. Conversions
lb to metric ton 0.000453592
kg to metric
ton 1000
therms to btu 99976.1
kWh to MWh 1000
btu to MMBtu 1000000
MWh to GWh 1000
kg to g 1000
Assumptions
Summary Table
Metric Tons
Emissions
Source Activity Units SI Units
SI
Activity CO2 CH4 N2O CO2e Adjusted*
Electricity
Use 13659 kWh MWh 13.659 10.7663 0.001 0.00015 10.841 0.481986661
Gas Use 951 therms MMBtu 95.07727 0.095 9.507E-06 0 0.0953 0.004237529
Flights 63704
passenger
-miles
passenger
-miles 63704 9.109 0 0.000299 9.198 9.198895822
Parking Spot
to Airport 293.7
vehicle-
miles
vehicle-
miles 293.7 0.142 0.0000058 6.461E-06 0.144 0.144516847
Office to
Parking Spot 1425.6
vehicle-
miles
vehicle-
miles 1425.6 0.506 2.993E-05 0.0000213 0.513 0.513208872
Driving in CA 3832.62
vehicle-
miles
vehicle-
miles 3832.62 1.360 8.048E-05 5.748E-05 1.379 1.379724037
Total 11.72256977
* Electricity use and gas use CO2e totals are for the entire house. The adjusted column is the percentage of those
emissions attributed to the office space, 4.446%.
Assumption Value Source (if applicable)
Whole House (sqft) 3239 Client
Office (sqft) 144 Client
Rental Car (mpg) 22 2015 Average:
https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub
lications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_2
3.html
Denver (DEN) to
Oakland (OAK)
(passenger-miles)
954 http://www.webflyer.com/travel/mileage_calculator/getmil
eage.php?city=DEN&city=OAK&city=&city=&city=&city=&bo
nus=0&bonus_use_min=0&class_bonus=0&class_bonus_use
_min=0&promo_bonus=0&promo_bonus_use_min=0&min=
0&min_type=m&ticket_price=
Orange (SNA) to
Oakland (OAK)
(passenger-miles)
370 http://www.webflyer.com/travel/mileage_calculator/getmil
eage.php?city=SNA&city=OAK&city=&city=&city=&city=&bo
nus=0&bonus_use_min=0&class_bonus=0&class_bonus_use
_min=0&promo_bonus=0&promo_bonus_use_min=0&min=
0&min_type=m&ticket_price
