Carbon footprint Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Carbon footprint - Essay Example Other emissions from greenhouses such as Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O, Hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs), per fluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) are all reported as carbon dioxide emissions. Reporting all the other greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as a single value of measurement makes it easy to manage, calculate as well as reporting. While carbon dioxide emissions are primarily used as a method of calculating CO2e, there are efforts by the international coordination of standards and control to make sure that an approach that is consistent is adopted for purposes of usage as well as calculation of the value (Weidema 1995). It is worth noting that there are a set of rules referred to as GHG Protocol that are generally used as the basis of calculating carbon footprint. These protocols are in line with the propositions under the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for national level calculation of carbon emission. Nevertheless, despite the existence of well-built international standards, there are no institutions to enforce such standards, and therefore some companies opt to design their own computation methods. The computations of carbon footprint consist of two key mechanisms which are indirect and direct emissions (McGregor & Vorley 2006). The purpose of this distinction is to enable easy calculation of a particular company or entry as well as to provide a suitable system that eliminates any possibilities of double accounting. It is worth mentioning the various reasons behind computation of carbon footprint, these reasons may include: To set up a true and fair account of carbon emission ( CO2e), the calculations also reduces and simplify the costs associated with carbon emission, in addition, it provides information that facilitates involvement in mandatory as well as voluntary carbon emission reduction programs, the calculation also helps in providing valuable information to the management that can be used to design an effective and viable approach to facilitate the implementation of a carbon management program in an organization (Brenton 2009). Discussion For purposes of computing carbon footprint, it is pertinent to ensure that there are established boundaries of computation. This is because the computation of carbon footprint can be visualized as having a number of boundaries that are different. These boundaries may include: Carbon footprint at the department level, Carbon footprint at the organizational level, Carbon footprint across the supply chain, and the LCA (full life-cycle assessment) on a service or product based model. This study will generally focus on product level carbon foot printing (Kasterine & Vanzetti 2010). As aforementioned, Product carbon foot printing approach is based on LCA (full life-cycle assessment). It is therefore pertinent to describe what is entailed under full life-cycle assessment (LCA) before attempting to understand what product carbon foot printing. LCA boundaries of evaluation broadly encompass the raw materials extraction and processing, manufacturing or production, consumer-use, as well as end-of-life scenarios; this may involve the process of material recycling (Hesselbach & Herrmann 2011). As such, the result obtained from a full life-cycle assessment can be used for purposes of identifying significant impacts on human health and environment emanating from a particular product, and such information can be used to alleviate the impact. The information gathered through LCA evaluation may also be useful in terms of designing an effective strategy that can reduce product cost while at the same time provi ding an opportunity to