Does refrigerant lost while installing new ACs or chillers count in our Scope 1?

Question

Senseible · Accepted Answer

Yes, if your own team does the charging, though it is usually small. IPCC 2006 puts installation losses at 0.2% to 1% of the charge for ACs and chillers, and 0.5% to 3% for commercial and industrial refrigeration. Measure it as gas bought for the new units minus their rated charge. Installation loss (kg) = refrigerant bought or used for the new equipment minus the full rated charge of that equipment. Multiply by the gas's GWP from one IPCC report and add it to Scope 1 for the year. The first charge itself is not an emission; only what escapes is. Residential and commercial AC, including heat pumps: 0.2% to 1% of the charge. Chillers: 0.2% to 1%. Stand-alone commercial units and medium or large commercial refrigeration: 0.5% to 3%. Industrial refrigeration, including food processing and cold storage: 0.5% to 3%. Transport refrigeration and domestic refrigerators: 0.2% to 1%. Vehicle AC: 0.2% to 0.5%. The lower end reflects developed countries and the upper end developing countries, so justify the point you pick. Your technicians charge from your cylinders: yours, in Scope 1. A contractor charges from its own cylinders and hands over a working system: the loss is the contractor's. Units that arrive pre-charged from the factory carry little loss at your site; any extra gas added for long pipe runs is charging you do.

Does refrigerant lost while installing new ACs or chillers count in our Scope 1?

The mass balance

IPCC defaults when you have no figures

Whose emission it is

Worked example: an office fit-out and a chiller

What Senseible does here