Standard Carbon Calculator
Welcome to the Repair Café Carbon Calculator
Quickly see how much you are saving!
Designed especially for Repair Cafés to estimate
GHG emissions and landfill & recyclables saving.
One of the potential benefits from repairing rather than renewing products is the ability to prevent the manufacture of new replacement products that increase the level of greenhouse emissions to the atmosphere. Estimating theses savings can be a complex task, so the new Repair Café Carbon Calculator aims to make this a much easier task if your Repair Café collects even very basic information about the repairs it undertakes.
Which calculator to use?
NOTE: You can select the ‘Quick’ or ‘Standard’ calculator using the ‘Repair Café Carbon Calculator’ dropdown in the site navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Quick Carbon Calculator: If you want to quickly estimate your repair emission savings all you need to do is enter either the TOTAL Weight of successful repairs (kg) or the TOTAL Number of items repaired successfully.
The Quick Calculator does not need to know the type of products you have repaired since it uses repair data for many product repairs across multiple Repair Cafés. This data has been used to compute the savings using the average emission savings for all products, but importantly takes into account allowances for other factors that impact emissions savings, such as how many products are taken by the average visitor for repair and how many miles they will have driven to and from the Repair Café etc.
Remember that successfully repaired means that the repair was a Total Success, not a partial repair or possibly repaired!
STEPS
1- Check the toggle tab (above the Blue input slider) is set to the input type you want to use; ‘Weight of Repairs’ or ‘Number of Repairs’.
2 – Move the input slider (on Blue line) by clicking and dragging the blue slider using your mouse until you see the Weight or Number of repairs you want to input is indicated. Note: you can also use the Arrow Keys to move the slider backwards and forwards once you have clicked on the slider button.
3- To see your saving results click on the Blue ‘Calculate NOW’ button that will appear once the slide has an input value selected, you will then be taken to the results page. Please note you can also have the results e-mailed to you. Simply click on the e-mail required check box and input your email address before clicking on the ‘Calculate NOW’ button.
Standard Carbon Calculator: If you want to estimate your repair emission savings by product category for a more accurate estimate, you can do this by inputing the TOTAL Weight of successful repairs (kg) or else the TOTAL Number of items repaired successfully for each of the 8 different categories described. If you did not repair any products in a particular category then leave the input (Blue) slider for that category at zero ‘0’.
The Standard Carbon Calculator does not need to know item by item the individual products that have been repaired since it uses repair data for many products across multiple Repair Cafés. This data has been used to compute the the average product weights and embodied carbon emissions for each general product category. The overall calculation importantly takes into account allowances for other factors that impact emissions savings, such as how many products are taken by the average visitor for repair and how many miles they will have driven to and from the Repair Café etc.
Remember that successfully repaired means that the repair was a Total Success, not a partial repair or possibly repaired!
STEPS
1- Check the toggle tab (above the Blue input slider) is set to the input type you want to use; ‘Weight of Repairs’ or ‘Number of Repairs’.
2 – Move the input slider (Blue line) by clicking and dragging the slider button using your mouse until you see the Weight or Number of repairs you want to use indicated for each category of product you have repaired. Note you can also use the Arrow Keys to move the slider backwards and forwards once you have clicked on the slider button.
3- To see your results click on the ‘Calculate NOW’ button that will appear once the slide has an input value selected, you will then be taken to the results page. Please note you can also have the results e-mailed to you. Simply click on the email required check box and input your email address before clicking on the ‘Calculate NOW’ button.
Product Categories
What type of products go where?
The Standard Carbon Calculator uses 8 categories to further refine the estimate of greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO2e) since different types of products tend to have different average weights and levels of embodied GHG emissions.
As a guide the following shows product types that should be entered into each category. If you are unsure of which category to use for some products then enter their total Weight or Number into the ‘Other’ category.
Bicycles: Normal pedal Push Bikes /Cycles.
Tablets/Phones/Computers: Items such as – iPads and similar Tablet computer devices, Mobile Phones, Smart Phones, Laptop and Desktop Computers.
Electricals: Items such as – DAB Radios, Vacuum Cleaners, Printer, Lamps, Kettles, Toasters, Irons, Food Mixers, Coffee Machines, Fans, Hair Dryers, Microwave ovens, VCRs, Hi-Fi Amplifiers, Stereo Systems & Speakers, CD/DVD players, Hedge Trimmers, Paper Shredders, Electric Mowers.
Mechanical: Items such as Sewing machines, wind-up Clocks, non-digital Cameras, Staple Guns, metal gardening equipment (non motorised) such as Shears, Loppers, Spades, Forks etc.
Clothing/Textiles: Items such as Trousers, Jackets, Shirts, Bags, Curtains, Coats, Rucksacks,Handbags, Shoes, Dresses, Cardigans, Skirts and Soft Toys.
Furniture: Items such as – Tables and Chairs with wooden or metal or mixed materials
Jewellery: Items such as – Bracelets, Brooches, Spectacles, Necklaces, Earrings and Watches.
Other: Items that don’t obviously fit into one of the above categories or you are unsure. This category uses an average product weight and embodied GHG emissions figure across all repair types except (excluding) bicycles in the overall calculation.
The Standard Carbon Calculator allows you to input the weight of successful repairs into typical repair categories such as Bicycles, Clothing and Electricals. This allows a more accurate estimation of your specific repair greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings because different categories of products tend to have different average product weights and levels of embodied GHGs. The standard carbon calculator helps take these factors into account.
Emission saving (kg CO2e): This figure is calculated by considering the total embodied GHG emissions in new like for like product replacements – the total ‘Replacement product savings’ and subtracting the Repair related emissions and Product displacement loss.
Replacement product savings (kg CO2e): The total weight (kg) of products in each category is multiplied by the weighted (wtd) average embodied GHG emissions for products within each specific category. The total embodied GHG emissions for each category is then summed to give the total embodied GHG emissions saved (by not replacing the faulty products with like for like new ones).
Product displacement loss (kg CO2e): This figure is calculated by multiplying the Replacement product savings by the fraction of visitors who experienced a successful repair but still reported going on to purchase a new product. This therefore subtracts from any Replacement product saving created from the successful repair.
Repair related emissions (kg CO2e): This figure is calculated from the total number of products successfully repaired, estimated using weighted average product weight for each category, and multiplying it by; the total estimated GHG emissions created directly and indirectly for ALL repairs (successful and NOT successful) divided by the total number of successful repairs.
Note: The number of unsuccessful repairs figure is derived using the average UK Repair Café repair success (percentage rate).
Landfill (kg): This is the total weight (kg) of all products successfully repaired across all repair categories and therefore not entering landfill or waste reprocessing sites.
Number of successful repairs (units estimated): This is the total estimated number of products that have been successfully repaired, and is calculated based on the total weight of successful repairs entered for each product category divided by the weighted average product weight for each category. The total estimated number of products for each category is then summed to produce the total figure for the Number of successful repairs.
The carbon saving intensity of repairs (kg CO2e/kg ): This figure represents the calculated Emission savings (kg CO2e) across all product categories divided by the total weight weight (kg) of all products successfully repaired. The figure is quoted differently for weight of product and number of product repair data inputs. This is because; if your Repair Cafe is recording product repair numbers it is more meaningful to know the carbon saving intensity per product for comparative purposes, and visa versa when recording product weights knowing the carbon saving intensity per kilogram of product repaired makes any comparison more relevant to the input data used.
The carbon intensity gauge allows you to see how your particular product category mix of successful repairs affects your emission savings, and how your savings compare to the UK average found in the research study. Repairing a greater number of products with higher embodied GHG emissions, such as computers, will increase the carbon saving intensity of your repairs.
Where do the figures used come from?
The estimated calculations are based on data collected and analysed from 13 UK Repair Cafés for a total of nearly 3000 attempted repairs. This enabled a typical product profile for repairs undertaken at UK Repair Cafés to be created, taking into account product type average weights, repair success rates and spare parts used.
In conjunction with data obtained from UK Repair Cafés a questionnaire was used to collect data from visitors to Repair Cafés. This additional data has been used to derive estimates for; the typical type of transportation used, distances travelled, number of products taken for repair by each visitor, failure rates immediately after a successful product repair at a Repair Café, and how many visitors go on to buy a new product despite a successful repair etc. An allowance is also made for rebound consumption, based on the percentage of visitors who felt they had saved money as a result of using a Repair Café and stated that they had or would possibly go on to purchase additional goods and services as a result of the successful repair.
A full description of the methodology and references used can be found HERE
It is very important to note that the estimated GHG emission savings (if any) DO NOT occur immediately at the time of repair. The GHG emission savings are in fact ‘potential’ emission savings because attempting the repair of all faulty products directly and indirectly creates GHG emissions; Transportation, Spare Parts, Rebound Consumption etc. This means that any successfully repaired product has to prevent the purchase of a new product for an extended period of time to enable the positive GHG emissions associated with the repair service to be recuperated. Once this point in time is reached – ‘the breakeven point’ – the GHG emission savings then start to become negative, and over time can reach the estimated GHG emission savings figure. For example a mobile phone may be expected to have a usable life of 1.8 years; research by Green Alliance UK indicates that with repair a mobile phone’s usable life can be extended by a factor of 2-3 times.
Receiving an e-mail copy of your carbon saving results
Simply enter your email address and a text version of the results page will be sent to you. It should be received immediately, if NOT please check your spam or junk folder as the results will almost certainly be there if they have not arrived in your in-box.
What values are being used for calculation in the Standard Carbon Calculator?
For Bicycles:
average product weight 15.1 kg, average product embodied GHG emissions 9.9 kg CO2e/kg
For Clothing/Textiles:
(wtd) average product weight 0.7 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 27.2 kg CO2e/kg
For Tablets/Phones/Computers:
(wtd) average product weight 1.8 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 142.6 kg CO2e/kg
For Furniture:
(wtd) average product weight 7.3 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 2.1 kg CO2e/kg
For Electricals:
(wtd) average product weight 3 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 12.1 kg CO2e/kg
For Mechanical:
(wtd) average product weight 5.6 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 4.1 kg CO2e/kg
For Jewellery:
(wtd) average product weight 0.075 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 37.7 kg CO2e/kg
For Other:
(wtd) average product weight 2.4 kg, (wtd) average product embodied GHG emissions 14.1 kg CO2e/kg
Product displacement loss: This is positive emission figure calculated as 11.4% of the Replacement product savings figure. Note: This percentage includes a small allowance (-0.2%) for Landfill and Recyclables transportation emission savings.
Repair related positive GHG emissions per successful repair = 5.9 kg CO2e.
For the equivalence carbon emission comparison to ONE of 3 activities:
Driving a car 240.8 g CO2/mile
Reference used HERE
Taking a hot shower 1.6 kg CO2/10 minutes
Reference used HERE
Flying from UK to Europe 164g CO2/Passenger mile
Reference used HERE