How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a steel cot?
Weigh the steel tubes, sheet and fittings per cot and multiply by the steel supplier's figure. Add cutting, bending, welding and powder coating energy, then divide the workshop's energy by cots made.
Material
- Steel tubes and angles.
- Steel sheet or slats for the base.
- Powder coating and fittings.
Process
- Cutting and bending tubes.
- Welding.
- Pretreatment and powder coating.
Per cot
Report per cot by size and weight. Steel is usually most of the footprint, so weight is the main driver.
Worked example: plant energy per cot (one month)
- Electricity: 12,000 kWh x 0.710 = 8,520 kg CO2
- PNG: 2,000 SCM x 2.05 = 4,100 kg CO2
- Cots made: 1,200
- Plant total: 12,620 / 1,200 = 10.5 kg CO2 per cot
- Add steel and powder 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.
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 2026-10-21.