# How does a dental clinic work out its carbon footprint?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/dental-clinic-carbon-footprint

Start with the electricity bill, then add any nitrous oxide used for sedation, LPG or diesel, and the main purchases: consumables, instruments and lab work. Nitrous oxide is a direct Scope 1 emission with a global warming potential of 273, so a few cylinders matter.

## Scope 1 and 2

- Electricity for chairs, compressors, autoclaves and air conditioning.
- Nitrous oxide bought, in kilograms.
- Backup genset diesel.

## Scope 3

- Gloves, masks and single-use items.
- Dental lab work sent out.
- Patient travel, if you choose to estimate it.

## Nitrous oxide

- 20 kg N2O in a year x 273 = 5,460 kg CO2e

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads quantities, dates and units from your bills and invoices and shows the factor and source used on every line.

- [Anaesthetic gases in hospitals](https://senseible.earth/answers/anaesthetic-gases-scope-1-hospital)
- [Hospital autoclave emissions](https://senseible.earth/answers/hospital-autoclave-sterilisation-emissions)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC AR6 WG1, global warming potentials](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.