The main objective of this section is to calculate the carbon footprint of a simple case study. The carbon footprint is calculated by summing the emissions resulting from every stage of a product or service's lifetime (e.g. material production, manufacturing, use phase, and end-of-life disposal). Throughout a product's lifetime, or lifecycle, different greenhouse gases (GHGs) may be emitted, such as methane and nitrous oxide, each with a greater or lesser ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. These differences are accounted for by calculating the global warming potential (GWP) of each gas in units of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq.), giving carbon footprints a single unit for easy comparison (Jones and Kammen 2011).
The case study is described in the PPT file. The assessment was performed via CCaLC2 software. All the step linked on how to use the software, as well as how to carry out the calculation of the carbon footprint are also detailed in the PPT file.
Additional information about the CCaLC2 software can be access in more 4.2.5.