Guidelines: How to use Green Art Calculator

The Green Art Calculator can be used to evaluate the carbon footprint of a production or artwork. It can also be used to determine the material footprint. Certain materials may lack comprehensive information as the calculator relies solely on data (emission and material intensity factors) sourced from open databases.

You can measure either the total carbon footprint of a specific project or activity, or simply compare the impacts of individual choices. Emission assessments can also be done in advance, most easily with data collected during a previous project. 

When communicating the result from the Green Art Calculator, explain how you used the calculator. Here are some recommended options.

CARBON FOOTPRINT OF PRODUCTION OR ACTIVITY

To get a comprehensive understanding of the carbon footprint of an organization, project, exhibition, or other production, it is essential to conduct a thorough assessment of emissions. The footprint assessment can include emissions generated by a single project from start to finish or the activities of the entire organization over a specific period, such as a year.

If you are just starting out with footprint assessment, you can divide the assessment into a few steps, e.g. determining emissions from a specific area during the first year and emissions from another area during the following year. Clearly report if you have measured emissions from only a specific area. The goal is to eventually include all key areas in the carbon footprint assessment.

To conduct a thorough carbon footprint assessment, it's recommended to include the following activities. We suggest prioritizing the most emission-intensive areas, which are listed first, to incorporate the most relevant activities into the assessment. If collecting data from a particular area proves to be overwhelmingly difficult, that area can be excluded from the calculation, provided that this is mentioned in the reporting of the results.

1. 1. Travel

1. 1.2 Business trips paid for by the organization (artists, staff)

2. 1.3 Staff commuting (travel between home and workplace)

3. 1.4 Audience travel

2. 2. Energy consumption of premises

1. 2.1 Electricity

2. 2.2 Heat

3. 3. Procurement

1. 3.1 Goods procurement (printed materials, equipment, consumer goods)

2. 3.2 Service procurement (marketing, accommodation, cleaning, telecommunications)

3. 3.3 Meals and beverages funded by the project

4. 4. Materials (exhibition construction)

1. 4.1 Metals

2. 4.2 Paints

3. 4.3 Wood

5. 5 Waste

Staff payroll costs are excluded from the carbon footprint assessment. 

COMPARING CARBON FOOTPRINTS WHEN CHOOSING MATERIALS

To determine the impact of an individual material choice, specify the amount of material acquired or, in the case of products that can be stored and used later, the material usage. If you buy a 5-liter paint can, use only 3 liters of paint for painting a wall for an exhibition, and store the remaining 2 liters for later use, you should input “3 liters” in the calculator. If you know that the remaining 2 liters will dry out or will be taken to hazardous waste collection, then the amount of material should be reported as 5 liters.

The weight of the paint can be determined by multiplying the liters by the density of the paint indicated on the paint can. For example, 3 liters x 1,2 kg/l = 3,6 kg

Additionally, take into account logistics emissions if the materials require transportation from different locations. 

WHERE TO FIND INFORMATION?

Emission accounting is a lot like traditional accounting, but rather than tracking consumption itself, it focuses on quantifying the emissions produced as a result of that consumption. Because of this link, invoices and receipts related to economic accounting are very helpful in collecting information for carbon footprint assessment. 

Travel. Since travel and transportation is likely the largest source of emissions, it's worthwhile to start systematically monitoring transportation emissions. If an organization has its own vehicles, it's advisable to record precise readings: fuel consumption (or if that is impossible, kilometers driven per year). For air travel, report flight kilometers, but if that seems daunting, it is also possible to report the euros spent on flights. 

Staff commuting between work and home can be estimated based on the number of working days, length of the journey and transport modes used. E.g. 48 weeks x 5 days x 10 km x 2 times, home and back = 4800 km, which can then be entered in the calculator using the chosen transport mode. For public transport this would result in emissions of 336 kg CO2e. 

If an employee estimates that they usually during a week they travel 3 days by bus, 1 day by bike, and spend 1 day working from home, stay 1 week on sick-leave and 2 weeks on business travels, then the calculation would look like this: 45 weeks x 3 days x 10 km x 2 times, home and back = 2700 km. According to our calculator this results in 189 kg CO2e for public transport. Bicycling and working from home do not cause travel emissions. 

If staff commuting proves to be a significant emission source, data collection methods can be fine-tuned later. 

Audience travel is likely a major source of emissions. The challenge here is how to gather information from the audience comprehensively enough to report and track results reliably from year to year. Data collection can begin with feedback surveys and sample surveys, with methods evolving with experience. You can start by checking the CO2 calculator on Tapaus website: http://wp-tapaus.demo.netello.com/en/co%e2%82%82-calculator 

It is easy to get information related to energy consumption if the property is owned by the organization. However, art sector organizations often are tenants in shared spaces. If heating, water, and possibly even electricity are included in the rent, determining consumption figures requires effort and cooperation with the landlord or property manager.

Some spaces lack separate consumption meters, making it impossible to accurately determine their individual consumption figures. However, it is possible to get the information of the total heat consumption of the entire building, and the specific heat consumption per square meter per year (MWh/m2/year) from the property manager. When you know the area (m2) of your own space, you can calculate the annual heat consumption using the specific consumption rate, e.g. 50 m2 x 100 kWh/m2/year = 5000 kWh/year.

Procurement is the easiest area from emissions accounting perspective, since most of the information can be input into the calculator in euros.

Information related to materials for input into the calculator can be found, for example, in the product details of online stores.

REPORTING

If you have limited the carbon footprint calculation to specific activities or cannot obtain all the necessary data, clearly state in your report which information has been included in the calculation and which data were unavailable.