Track Carbon Emissions for Vehicle Asset Sources

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• List the key fields on vehicle asset records.
  
• List the key fields on vehicle asset energy use records.
  
• Explain how to calculate emissions from vehicle assets.
  

NTO’s Vehicle Assets

NTO has two key vehicle emissions sources to account for: the private jets that NTO operates and the shuttle cars that are used for employee commuting. Sam creates a company-owned asset for a private jet used by the CEO of the company, and a record for the company shuttle in the Miami region, which they lease from a local car rental company for employee commutes. 

While most fields remain similar for the vehicle emissions sources, Sam takes a look at the key fields that impact emissions calculations.

• Vehicle type: Based on the record types configured by the admin, you can select the type of vehicle for which you want to calculate emissions. NTO can select between Fleet Vehicles and Private Jets.
  
  
• Other emissions factors: Lookup to the object that holds reference data for emissions from various fuel sources. Other emissions factor item records associated with the parent other emissions factor set record contains emissions factors for different fuel types, such as jet fuel, gasoline, diesel, or CNG.
  

Apart from these key fields, Sam can also add additional information, such as the scope allocation, lease ID, lease expiration date, vehicle ID, and business region on a vehicle asset emissions source record.

Energy Use Records for Vehicle Assets

Let’s turn our attention to energy use. Now that he’s recorded his vehicle assets, Sam can specify supplier-provided fuel consumption data. Here are the details that Sam can specify on the energy use record.

• Fuel consumption details: Depending on the type of asset, fuel type can either be jet fuel for private jets, or any other fuel for fleet vehicles, such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas (CNG), diesel, or gasoline. Sam can also specify fuel consumption values in liters or gallons from gas station bills and fuel refill receipts.
  
  
• Distance: This is the distance traveled by a company car or the private jet for the reporting period. Distance can be specified in kilometers or miles.
  
  
• Aircraft details: Sam can specify the type of aircraft, which impacts the fuel efficiency and consumption patterns. From the flight receipts, Sam can also specify the flight duration and flight date.
  

The following attributes are auto calculated based on the values provided and the data that is in an emissions factor record linked to.

• Fuel Efficiency
  
• CH₄, CO₂, and N₂O Emissions (kg)
  
• Scope-Based Emissions (tCO₂e)
  
• Total Fuel Consumption in US Gallons and Liters
  
• Aircraft Fuel Economy (Gallons per Hour)
  

Vehicle Asset Carbon Footprint

Now it’s time for Sam to create a carbon footprint record for each vehicle asset that he’d specified earlier to calculate the total carbon emissions from a vehicle represented in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e). The conversion factors from the associated Other Emissions Factors and related Other Emissions Factor Items are used to calculate the emissions.

The following key data points are available on a vehicle asset carbon footprint record.

• Total fuel use: Sam can view the total fuel usage for a vehicle in gallons and in liters. The values are rolled up from the associated energy use records for the vehicle.
  
  
• Supplemental emissions: Sam can also specify supplemental emissions by scope to manually adjust emissions, if needed. These are added to the calculated total emissions.
  
  
• Greenhouse gas emissions: Sam can see the auto calculated values for Total Scope 1, Total Scope 2 Market-Based, Total Scope 2 Location-Based, Total Scope 3 Upstream and Total Scope 3 Downstream Emissions (tCO₂e) for the associated source.
  

Calculations for Vehicle Emissions

The following information is available on a vehicle asset energy use record for a fleet vehicle asset source such as NTO’s company shuttle.

First, Net Zero Cloud converts the fuel consumption to gallons. 100 liters = 26.42 gallons.

Next, let’s look at the information in the  other emissions factor set record. The fuel conversion factors - DEFRA EPA 2018 record has an associated other emissions factor item record that holds the emissions factors for Diesel. The values are as follows.

So, for 26.4 gallons of Diesel, the mass of CO₂, N₂O, and CH₄ generated is calculated by applying the emissions factors.

• CO2: 26.42*9.75*0.001 = 0.257568 kg
  
• N20: 26.4*0.3*0.001 = 0.007925 kg
  
• CH4: 26.4*0.12*0.001 = 0.003170 kg
  

Note that the contribution of N₂O and CH₄ emissions in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents is not 1:1. This equivalence is obtained from the global warming potential (GWP) values referred to in the other emissions factors record.

• N₂O GWP = 265
  
• CH₄ GWP = 28
  

Scope 1 Emissions (tCO₂e) = {CO₂ Emissions (Kg) /1000} + {N₂O Emissions (Kg) /1000 *N₂O GWP} + {CH₄ Emissions (Kg)/1000 * CH₄ GWP}

                                             = {0.257568/1000} + {0.007925/1000*265} + {0.003170/1000*28} = 0.0024

Similar calculations are carried out for private jets by referring to the fuel conversion factors for jet fuel and other values, such as aircraft fuel economy.

What’s Next?

Let’s pause for a moment to understand what Sam has done so far. He has listed the stationary and vehicle asset sources for NTO’s carbon accounting process and he has decoded the various emissions factors used for estimation of tCO₂e emissions for these assets. Next, he has created energy use records for stationary and vehicle assets, and he created the required carbon footprint records to aggregate the data. Sam has also looked at the calculations behind the scenes. He is now ready to uncover a few extra details about the carbon accounting process in the next unit.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Create a Vehicle Asset Emissions Source Record
  
• Salesforce Help: Create an Other Emissions Factor Set Record
  
• Salesforce Help: Create a Vehicle Asset Energy Use Record
  
• Salesforce Help: Calculate Vehicle Asset Carbon Footprints
  
• Developer Guide: Vehicle Asset Energy Use