# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of an air cooler?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/air-cooler-carbon-footprint-per-unit

Weigh the plastic body, fan motor, pump, cooling pads and packaging, apply supplier or database factors, and add moulding and assembly electricity per unit. Report use-phase electricity separately; over a cooler's life it is usually larger than the making.

## Materials

- Polypropylene or HIPS body: often the heaviest part; use a resin factor.
- Fan motor and water pump: copper and steel.
- Honeycomb or wood wool pads, castors, louvres and the carton.

## Manufacturing

- Large injection moulding machines for tanks and bodies.
- Assembly and testing lines.
- If you buy moulded bodies, the moulder's energy is their footprint; ask for it.

## Use phase

A cooler drawing about 150 to 200 W, run many hours in summer, uses a meaningful amount of electricity each year. State wattage, hours and grid factor.

## Worked example: cooler plant per unit (one month)

- Electricity: 60,000 kWh x 0.710 = 42,600 kg CO2
- Coolers passed: 8,000
- Plant total: 42,600 / 8,000 = 5.33 kg CO2 per cooler
- Add plastic, motor, pump and pads 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](https://senseible.earth/calculators/product-carbon-footprint)
- [Injection moulding footprint per kg](https://senseible.earth/answers/injection-moulding-carbon-footprint-per-kg)
- [Electric motor footprint per unit](https://senseible.earth/answers/electric-motor-carbon-footprint-per-unit)
- [Use phase emissions for pumps and motors](https://senseible.earth/answers/use-phase-emissions-for-pumps-and-motors)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Product Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/standards), [ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org)](https://www.iso.org), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-20.