How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a room air conditioner?
Weigh the compressor, copper and aluminium coils, sheet metal, plastic body and electronics per indoor and outdoor unit and multiply by supplier figures. Add brazing, assembly and testing energy, divide by sets built and list the refrigerant charge separately.
Bought-in parts
- Rotary compressor and fan motors.
- Copper tubes and aluminium fins for the coils.
- Sheet metal outdoor casing, plastic indoor body and control boards.
Making
- Fin pressing, tube expansion and coil brazing.
- Assembly of indoor and outdoor units.
- Vacuuming, refrigerant charging and run testing.
Per unit
Report per split or window set by tonnage, and state the refrigerant and charge from the rating plate. Leaks during use belong to the use phase, not the factory figure.
Worked example: room AC unit per unit (one month)
- Electricity: 180,000 kWh x 0.710 = 127,800 kg CO2
- LPG: 3,000 kg x 2.98 = 8,940 kg CO2
- Units produced: 10,000
- Plant total: 136,740 / 10,000 = 13.7 kg CO2 per unit
- Add compressor, coils, casing and refrigerant 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
- Electric motor footprint
- Copper cable footprint
- Aluminium extrusion footprint
- Automobile 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.