# How do I calculate the emissions of storing potatoes in cold storage per bag?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/potato-cold-storage-electricity-per-bag

Take the cold store's electricity at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh and generator diesel at 2.68 kg per litre for the storage season, then divide by bag-months stored. A full store spreads the same refrigeration load over more bags, so occupancy changes the figure per bag.

## What drives it

- Refrigeration compressors through the season.
- Loading-time cooling of field heat.
- Generator hours during power cuts.
- Insulation and door condition.

## Bag-months

Bags stay for different lengths of time. Multiply bags by months stored to share energy fairly between farmers or traders.

## Who reports it

The store owner reports the electricity and diesel as Scope 2 and Scope 1. A farmer paying rent per bag reports it in Scope 3.

## Worked example: one storage season (illustrative inputs)

- Electricity: 210,000 kWh x 0.710 = 149,100 kg CO2
- Diesel: 1,500 litres x 2.68 = 4,020 kg CO2
- Bag-months stored (50 kg bags): 120,000
- Total: 153,120 / 120,000 = 1.276 kg CO2 per bag a month

Inputs are illustrative; use the store's bills and stock register.

## 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.

- [Cold storage emissions per tonne](https://senseible.earth/answers/cold-storage-emissions-per-tonne)
- [Third-party cold storage rent scope](https://senseible.earth/answers/third-party-cold-storage-rent-which-scope)
- [Potato chips per kg](https://senseible.earth/answers/potato-chips-carbon-footprint-per-kg)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.