How do I calculate the carbon footprint of an LT electrical panel?

Weigh the sheet steel enclosure, copper or aluminium busbars and the bought-in breakers, meters and cables per panel, and multiply each by its supplier figure. Add cutting, bending, powder coating and wiring energy, divided by panels built.

Bought-in parts

• Sheet steel for the enclosure.
• Copper or aluminium busbars.
• Breakers, contactors, meters, relays and cables.

Making

• CNC punching, bending and welding.
• Pretreatment and powder coating.
• Busbar fabrication, wiring and high voltage testing.

Per panel

Report per panel with its rating and enclosure weight, since panels range from a small distribution board to a large main panel.

Worked example: LT panel unit per panel (one month)

• Electricity: 15,000 kWh x 0.710 = 10,650 kg CO2
• PNG: 1,500 SCM x 2.05 = 3,075 kg CO2
• Panels produced: 120
• Plant total: 13,725 / 120 = 114.4 kg CO2 per panel
• Add steel, busbars and switchgear for the full figure

Inputs are illustrative; use your own bills and production records.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.

• Product carbon footprint calculator
• MCB footprint
• Sheet metal stamping footprint
• Copper cable footprint
• Steel industry

Sources: GHG Protocol Product Standard, ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults), CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0

Last reviewed 2026-10-20.