# How do I calculate a museum's carbon footprint per visitor?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/museum-carbon-footprint-per-visitor

Climate control for collections usually dominates: AC and dehumidifiers running all year at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh. Add lighting, generator diesel and refrigerant top ups, then divide by visitors. Visitor travel to the museum is Scope 3 and often larger.

## Records

- Electricity by gallery or HVAC system where metered.
- Visitor counts by month.
- Diesel and refrigerant service records.

## Collections

Tighter humidity bands use more energy. Agree the band with conservators before setting a reduction target.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.

- [Cinema multiplex per screen](https://senseible.earth/answers/cinema-multiplex-carbon-footprint-per-screen)
- [Stadium match day footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/stadium-match-day-carbon-footprint)

Sources: [CEA CO2 Baseline Database](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en), [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.