# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a rotavator?

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

A rotavator is mostly steel: weigh the sheet, plate, blades and gearbox parts per unit and multiply by your suppliers' per-kg figures. Add cutting, welding, machining and painting energy, then divide the plant's energy by units built.

## Bought-in parts

- Steel sheet and plate for the frame and cover.
- Boron steel blades and the gearbox castings.
- Bearings, chain and fasteners.

## Making

- Laser or plasma cutting and press bending.
- MIG welding and machining.
- Paint shop: pretreatment, powder or liquid paint and oven.

## Per unit

Report per rotavator by working width, since a 7 foot model carries much more steel than a 4 foot one.

## Worked example: rotavator unit per unit (one month)

- Electricity: 30,000 kWh x 0.710 = 21,300 kg CO2
- LPG: 1,500 kg x 2.98 = 4,470 kg CO2
- Rotavators built: 150
- Plant total: 25,770 / 150 = 171.8 kg CO2 per unit
- Add steel, castings and blades 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)
- [Steel fastener footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/steel-fastener-carbon-footprint-per-kg)
- [Foundry footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/foundry-charge-mix-pig-iron-vs-scrap-carbon)
- [Automobile industry](https://senseible.earth/industries/automobile)

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.