Load Emissions Factors Datasets

Types of Emissions Factors Datasets

To accurately account for carbon emissions, Net Zero Cloud offers emissions factors (EF) datasets from two sources. These include standard sources that come with the Net Zero Cloud license and paid listings from providers in the Net Zero Marketplace.

Here are a few examples of EF datasets from governing bodies, which come with Net Zero Cloud. Sam and Safiya plan to load these datasets for NTO.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Ground Travel
  
• Freight Hauling
  
• Rental Cars
  
• Waste
  
• Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)
  

International Energy Agency (IEA)

• Electricity
  

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Dataset Hosting

All emissions factors datasets are hosted in Salesforce Net Zero Marketplace. Net Zero Cloud supports emissions factors that are either free and provided out of the box (OOTB) from Salesforce or those available for purchase from providers in Net Zero Marketplace.

The integration between Net Zero Cloud and Net Zero Marketplace provides a seamless user experience. The only difference between free and purchased emissions factors is you are invoiced if you select an emissions factor offered at a cost.

Here’s the process flow for choosing and loading EF datasets.

First, you go to Net Zero Marketplace to browse all EFs and choose the one you want. Then you load the dataset in Net Zero Cloud.

A Net Zero Cloud org that has never been used, such as a Trailhead project org, has no EF datasets preloaded. But that’s OK. It’s simple to load the ones you need.

Sam plans to load up a few OOTB offerings from Salesforce. Free seemed like a pretty good deal, and the integration between Net Zero Cloud and Net Zero Marketplace makes loading EFs super simple.

The first time you load datasets, the Single Sign On (SSO) integration between your hands-on project special org and Net Zero Marketplace informs you of these details.

• Redirect - From NZC to NZM. (Please confirm the redirect.)
  
• Access - To identify URL service and APIs. (Please Allow.)
  
• Notifications - Please allow notifications if queried. Some datasets are large and take some time to load. Allowing notifications permits Net Zero Cloud to notify you when the load process completes.
  
• Account Details - General data processing and security policy information. Feel free to read the Privacy Statement and continue when ready.
  

Load Emissions Factors Datasets into Net Zero Cloud

Emissions Factors datasets are loaded from Setup in Net Zero Cloud.

1. From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Load Reference Data, and then select Load Reference Data.
   
2. Click Get Emissions Factors.
   
3. In Net Zero Marketplace, click Browse all emissions factors, and then find and select the dataset you want to use. For this project, use US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Electricity - eGRID.
   
   • Note there are several years for this dataset (2018, 2019,... 2021). Select any one you want. The Verify step at the end will not check the specific year.
     
   • The free datasets have the phrase “Included with Net Zero Cloud.” By definition, all datasets that are “Included with Net Zero Cloud” are also “Mapped to Net Zero Cloud”.
     
4. If the dataset is:
   
   • Included with Net Zero Cloud, click Get It Now.
     
   • From another provider, click Add to Cart. After you pay, the dataset is available in Net Zero Cloud.
     
5. Return to the Load Reference Data page and refresh the page. Net Zero Cloud increments the number next to the emissions factor dataset that you acquired, and marks it as “Updates Available”.
   
6. Click Load Dataset, and then confirm the upload.
   

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Electricity - eGRID contains electricity emission factors and grid mixes for US electricity grid locations. This data provides calculations to convert energy consumption to carbon emissions.

After a quick cup of coffee, Sam checks his notifications to confirm the emissions factors dataset load completed successfully.

Sam clicks the Notifications bell icon to drill down to more detailed information.

Done! Lastly, Sam checks specific version information.

View Current Dataset Version Details

Net Zero Cloud tracks version details and notifies Sam when updates are available.

In fact, it seems to work just like his laptop and mobile phone updates do, keeping emissions factors up to date.

To view the current dataset version details:

1. From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Load Reference Data, and then select Load Reference Data.
   
2. Expand a dataset to view its version history.
   
3. Click View Versions.
   

When Sam thinks a day, week, or a few months into the future, he’s glad Net Zero Cloud tracks the detailed version history for NTO. That’s one less spreadsheet that he has to maintain.

Load Emissions Factors Datasets as a Standard User

Previously in this project, Safiya walked Sam through a fair bit regarding Salesforce users, licenses, profiles, permission set licenses, permissions sets, cloning permission sets and assigning them to users. What was all that about?

As a System Administrator of an org, you pretty much have the permissions to do whatever you want. However, recall some of the other users were based on a standard Salesforce license and a cloud profile that you created. For example, you created the Joe Manager user, with a cloned Net Zero Cloud Manager profile and a Salesforce license.

Now it’s time to tie things together. What happens if you load emissions factors datasets as Joe Manager? Feel free to give it a try.

1. Log out of your special org.
   
2. Log in as the Joe Manager user created earlier.
   

You may need to check your email and verify the account for your Joe Manager username if you haven't done so already. Notice that the default app when you log into Joe Manager is the Net Zero app. Why? Because it was set as the default app in the Net Zero Cloud Manager profile used by the Joe Manager user.

3. Go into Salesforce Setup.
   
4. Enter load reference in the Quick Find box.
   

No matching items are found. Notice there’s no Load Reference Data in Setup like there was for the System Administrator. Let’s extend the functionality of the Net Zero Cloud Manager - clone Permission Set so the Joe Manager user can load emissions factors datasets, even though Joe isn’t the org’s System Administrator.

First, log back into your special org as a System Administrator.

1. From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Permission Sets, and then select Permission Sets.
   
2. Find and select the Net Zero Cloud Manager - clone Permission Set.
   
3. In the System section, click System Permissions.
   
4. Click Edit.
   
5. Scroll down and check Manage Load Reference Data.
   
6. Save your changes, and confirm the changes.
   

Now you can log back in as Joe Manager and load emissions factors datasets as you did earlier in this step. Pick any emissions factor that is included with Net Zero Cloud and catches your eye.

One More Thing on Permissions

What would happen if you performed these steps, but as the Jane Admin user instead of Joe Manager?

1. Log out of your special org.
   
2. Log in as the Jane Admin user.
   
3. Go into Salesforce Setup.
   
4. Enter load reference in the Quick Find box.
   
5. Click Get Emissions Factors.
   

Did the Jane Admin scenario trip you up? Those steps that failed originally as Joe Manager work fine as Jane Admin. It’s because Jane Admin uses the OOTB Net Zero Cloud Admin permission set, which already includes Manage Load Reference Data.

It’s not mandatory to clone and extend the permissions so EFs can be loaded for Jane Admin. Recall that the Net Zero Cloud Admin profile has slightly more permissions than the Net Zero Cloud Manager profile.

Net Zero Cloud Admin - NZC Manager permissions, plus reference data and fuel-type configuration management permissions.

It’s a subtle difference, but it helps illustrate how an admin can specify what users have permissions to perform certain tasks on your NZC org.

In this project, you prepared your Developer Edition Net Zero Cloud org for use. Once configured, typical next steps include adding stationary and vehicle assets, associating their energy use records, and calculating the carbon footprint. Check out the Resources for next steps.

Woot woot Sam! Or perhaps Safiya is the most deserving? Afterall, she taught Sam everything he knows about Net Zero Cloud admin. In any case, Sam can’t wait for a good night’s sleep so he can carry on perfecting the NTO Net Zero Cloud org tomorrow, bright and early.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Manage Reference Data In Net Zero Cloud