# How do I calculate the carbon footprint of yarn dyeing per kg?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/yarn-dyeing-carbon-footprint-per-kg

Add the dyehouse's boiler fuel, thermic fluid heater fuel and electricity for a period, convert each with its factor and divide by kg of yarn dyed. Add dyes and chemicals per kg for the full figure. Steam is usually the largest share.

## Energy

- Boiler fuel for package dyeing and hank dyeing steam.
- Hydro extractor, dryers and winding machines on electricity.
- Effluent treatment plant power, which belongs to the dyeing step.

## Materials

- Dyes, salt, soda ash and auxiliaries by kg per kg of yarn.
- Dye cones, tubes and packing.

## Per kg

Report per kg of yarn dyed by shade depth, since dark shades take longer cycles and more chemicals than pastels.

## Worked example: yarn dyehouse per kg (one month)

- Electricity: 60,000 kWh x 0.710 = 42,600 kg CO2
- Coal: 90,000 kg x 2.42 = 217,800 kg CO2
- Kg of yarn dyed: 150,000
- Plant total: 260,400 / 150,000 = 1.736 kg CO2 per kg
- Add dyes and chemicals 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)
- [CO2 per tonne of steam](https://senseible.earth/answers/co2-per-tonne-of-steam)
- [Dye and pigment footprint per kg](https://senseible.earth/answers/dye-pigment-carbon-footprint-per-kg)
- [Textile industry](https://senseible.earth/industries/textile)

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.