The carbon app is a tool we have designed to help people measure and track their carbon emissions. To do this, the app is based on this methodology, or a set of steps, to provide an estimate of how much CO2 is being emitted through different means of transportation.
For the app to be able to calculate the carbon
emission, the user must provide some data. To demonstrate, if you want to calculate the carbon emission for
a specific car ride, you need to provide the distance, type of car (electric, diesel, or gasoline), and the
number of passengers. Once the app collects the user-provided data, it uses formulas to estimate carbon
emissions.
We are going to studty some \(\LaTeX ~ formulas\) that could be useful for our project:
In order to provide our customers with an accurate amount of carbon emissions, the application will be
based on one general formula. The formula is derived from the emission factor, which easily includes fossil
fuel based transportation.
\[\text{CO}_{2}=d*\frac{ef}{p}\]
In witch:
\[\text{CO}_2 \text{ = carbon emissions in grams} \]
\[\text{d} \text{ = distance traveled in km} \]
\[\text{ef} \text{ = emission factor in CO}_2 \text{/km} \]
\[\text{d} \text{ = distance traveled in km} \]
The application uses a carbon intensity of 31 gCO2/kWh; this is based on data from the past year
(Electricity Maps, n.d.). But what is carbon intensity? Carbon intensity is used to evaluate the cleaness of the
electricity produced and is thus expressed in grams of CO2 per kWh (National Grid Group, n.d.).
Due to the different ways of producing electricity;
think about nuclear, coal, wind, gas, etc. Together with the energy consumption, a variable based on the
transportation mode, this is essentially the replacement of the emission factor which is used in the fossil fuel
formula. Thus you could inherently say that:
\[ \text{ef = 31 * ec} \]
In witch:
\[\text{ef} \text{ = emission factor in CO}_2 \text{/km} \]
\[\text{31} \text{ = dcarbon intensity in gCO}_2 \text{/kwh} \]
\[\text{ec} \text{ = energy consumption in kWh} \text{/km} \]
Based on information provided by the Statistic Central Bureau of
Norway (SSB, 2016) and Electric Vehicle Database (EV Database, n.d.), we will use the following data:
\[ \to \text{Petrol}: \text{156,47g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{km} \]
\[\to \text{Diesel}: \text{130g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{km} \]
\[\to \text{Energy consumption}: \text{0,199kwh/km} \]
\[\circ \text{ 6.17g CO}_2 \text{/km}\]
We found information on the carbon emissions of fuel oil ferries in which the number of
passengers is already taken into account (Helle, 2022). For the E-ferry it took some more effort since the
energy consumption needed to be calculated based on the information of E-ferry Ellen (E-ferry project,
n.d.).
\[ \to \text{Heavy Fuel Oil}: \text{170g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]
\[ \to \text{E-ferry}: \text{0.196 kWh} \text{/pkm} \]
\[\circ \text{ 6.08g CO}_2 \text{/pkm}\]
When looking up the carbon emissions for the train, they differed a bit per country. However, since the
application is focussed on use in Bergen, it will use information from the 2022 annual report of Vy (“When
Every Journey Counts,” 2022). It states that all of the trains Vy uses are electrical so the application will
only provide this option.
\[ \to \text{Electrical}: \text{10g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]
Since the grams of CO2/km match those provided by Future in our hands for an economy
class flight (Helle, 2022) the application will calculate the carbon emissions based on the following:
\[ \to \text{Kerosine}: \text{133g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]
Bus transportation in Bergen is organized by both Skyss and Vy. Since Skyss does not provide any
information about the climate footprint of their transportation, the application will use data provided by Vy
(“When Every Journey Counts,” 2022). Their buses run on 3 different types of fuel; diesel, biodiesel and
electrical.
\[ \to \text{Diesel}: \text{27g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]
\[\to \text{Biodisel}: \text{14g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]
\[\to \text{Electrical}: \text{13g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{pkm} \]
Most motorcycles run on petrol, however there are some electrical motorcycle alternatives. For the carbon
emissions produced by a petrol fueled motorcycle, the data will be based on information gathered by the
SSB (SSB, 2016). For the electric motorcycle, calculations will be based on information and data gathered
from a comparative study (Koossalapeerom et al., 2016).
\[ \to \text{Petrol}: \text{85,2g} \text{CO}_{2}/\text{km} \]
\[\to \text{Energy consumption}: \text{0,28 kwh/km} \]
\[\circ \text{ 0.87g CO}_2 \text{/km}\]
Besides the transportation modes mentioned above, the application will also provide the option of registering walking and cycling. Both of these transportation modes do not produce any carbon emissions so no calculations are needed. Nevertheless, the app will consider the kilometers traveled by walking and cycling. This will be shown in the charts and tables.