There are three Fugitive Emissions calculation methods to choose from:
Number of cooling equipment units uses the number of cooling equipment units per equipment type and whether they were in operation, installed, or disposed of in the given time period.
Mass and type of refrigerant uses the weight and type of refrigerant leaked by your cooling equipment. This is our recommended calculation method as it provides the most accurate results.
Bring Your Own Emissions allows you to upload your own pre-calculated emissions to the Plan A platform. For more information, see here.
Fugitive emissions is one of the more complex categories to calculate emissions for - which is partially due to the diversity of cooling equipment types that this category covers. Fugitive emissions are comprised of mainly two types of greenhouse gases: hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and perfluorocarbon (PFC). These two substances can leak out of cooling equipment during their installation, operation and disposal which then generates what we refer to as fugitive emissions.
The most accurate way to calculate fugitive emissions is the Mass and type of refrigerant used calculation method. This involved gathering concrete data on the refrigerant type used by each cooling equipment type you have in place as well as the exact amount of refrigerant that is replaced, e.g. during maintenance.
In reality, this type of data can be hard to gather. When specific refrigerant data is not available, the Number of cooling equipment units calculation method can be used. This method utilises average data for the consumption of refrigerants for various types of cooling equipment and their different lifecycle phases.
Where possible, we recommend using a combination of calculation methods to get as precise as possible emission calculations. It is recommended that you record the one-off ‘installation’ and ‘disposal’ events of your cooling equipment using the number of cooling equipment units calculation method. Then, we recommend recording your ‘in operation’ emissions using the 'mass and refrigerant type’ method, as this yields the most accurate results.
We recommend calculation methods based on their accuracy, but ultimately, you should choose a method that fits the data you have access to.