Activity breakdown

Users detail the offices, homes and post-production suites where people worked so that the associated electricity and water use is added to their footprint as co2e.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

As users are unlikely to have consumption data for these spaces, the tool automatically applies the following:

• Electricity consumption per day spent in air conditioned and non air-conditioned offices
• Heating, cooling and powering office equipment per (8 hour) day spent at home
• Electricity consumption per (8-hour) day for post-production suites
• Water consumption per day spent in offices, homes and suites

Users detail the air, rail and car/taxi journeys taken so that the associated fuel and/or electricity use is added to their footprint as co2e.

Users detail any couriers, equipment transport, carnets, excess baggage or product shipping so that the associated fuel and/or electricity use is added to their footprint as co2e. Note that for air/rail/sea freight, road transport to/from the airport/station/port is included automatically, so doesn’t need to be added separately. 

Benchmarks & Assumptions

If users do not know the exact weight carried for any trucks, they can apply an average cargo weight per truck which is based on the average allowed payload for each vehicle size.

Users detail total nights spent in hotels and any meals provided so that the associated impact is added to their footprint as co2e. Note that a drink per meal is included automatically.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

As users are unlikely to know what meal types were consumed by the various guests, an ‘average meal’ benchmark is applied to any meals. It’s also assumed that 1 x 500ml drink is consumed per meal.

Users detail any hard drives, LTO (linear tape-open) tapes and cloud storage used to save and archive imagery, motion assets/rushes/footage, edits, final content, etc. so that the associated impact is added to their footprint as co2e.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

For cloud storage, as users are unlikely to know the details of the cloud storage their company uses, an average benchmark has been pulled together incorporating market share of cloud storage providers (Google’s Cloud Platform, Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon’s AWS), storage types, regions of data centres, and each provider’s replication factor.

Users detail the number of days spent in unit bases, and other rented spaces for activities such as casting, rehearsing, wardrobe fittings, workshop based prep, so that the associated electricity use is added to their footprint as co2e.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

As users are unlikely to have consumption data for these types of spaces, the tool automatically applies the following:

• Electricity consumption per day for an average sized space relative to common pre-production activities.

Note that the water consumption per day benchmark (as noted in work spaces and shooting spaces) is not applied as traditionally people are not in these spaces very long, and numbers of people can vary dramatically.

Users detail the mains-powered/tied-in studios (incl. volume LED) and locations used so that the associated electricity and water use is added to their footprint as co2e, along with gas and heat & steam, if used. For generators, the associated fuel and/or electricity use is added to their footprint as co2e.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

As users are unlikely to have consumption data for studios, the tool automatically applies the following:

• Electricity, gas and heat & steam consumption per m2 per day in a non-volume LED studio
• Electricity and gas consumption per m2 of LED wall area per day in a volume LED studio
• Water consumption per person per day (also used for locations)

No electricity / gas / heat & steam benchmarks are available for locations due to the wide variety of location sizes used. 

No generator fuel benchmarks are available due to the difficultly to obtain information at present. It is hoped information gathered in the tool can be used to create one in the future.

Users detail the meals provided so that the associated impact is added to their footprint as co2e. In addition, indicate if drinks were supplied in cans or plastic bottles, if eating/drinking disposables were used, and if recycling facilities were available. Note that a drink per meal and waste associated with meals, and the additional options as noted, is all included automatically.

Additional refreshments like hot drinks and snacks don’t need to be entered.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

As users are unlikely to have specific detail for the various items related to catering, various benchmarks and assumptions have been incorporated. 

Users can indicate what percentage the catering provided are beef meals, other meat, fish meals and/or vegetarian/vegan meals. For other meat, fish meals, this is an average of albert’s lamb, pork, chicken and fish meal factors. For vegetarian/vegan this is an average of albert’s vegetarian and vegan meal factors. It’s also assumed that 1 x 500ml drink is consumed per meal.

If plastic bottled or canned drinks are selected, the weight of one plastic bottle/can is applied per meal. If both plastic bottled drinks and canned drinks are selected, half of each packaging type’s weight is applied per meal. 

If any of the boxes are checked for any of the items (plates, cups and/or utensils), the weight of one plate / one cup / 3 utensils is added per meal. If 2 or 3 material types are selected for the same item, the number of meals is divided by the number of options selected.

If the on-set recycling box has been checked, the weight of aluminium cans and plastic bottles as already determined, is added automatically. Plates, cups and utensils are not included in the recycling as they are likely to be contaminated with food waste, and are therefore unlikely to be recycled.

As it’s unlikely the user will know how many cans and bottles (if supplied) were recycled vs went into regular waste, it’s assumed all of them did. 

Waste disposal is added automatically and includes the following:

• Any plastic and/or aluminium drinks items unless recycling has been specified
• Any single-use eating and drinking items
• A general amount per meal to account for waste involved in creating the meals (if caterers), and/or any additional packaging they came in (if crew are given per-diems and purchase their own meals, or there were hot boxes for example)

Regarding the waste disposal method, it has been assumed that if the user indicates they are in one of the 27 EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, the UK or Japan, that the weight of items as per the bulleted list is multiplied by the combustion factor. If the user has indicated a country/region not included in the aforementioned list, the weight is multiplied by the landfill factor.

Users detail how many of each adult/child outfit type were used on screen (i.e. not returned), and what happened to them after the shoot, so that the associated impact is added to their footprint as co2e. Remember to add any wardrobe transport to the equipment transport section.

Any hired (and returned) items do not need to be included. 

Benchmarks & Assumptions

As users are unlikely to know the weight of the various wardrobe purchases used on screen, a weight per outfit benchmark has been created  in collaboration with The Styling Bank, with outfits split into the following types:

• Child, winter
• Child, summer
• Child, spring/autumn
• Adult, winter
• Adult, summer
• Adult, spring/autumn

‘Non-seasonal’ outfits should go under spring/autumn. 

The same weights are used for reuse / recycling / disposal as indicated by the user, and just as for catering, the disposal method is assumed based on the country indicated.

Users detail how much of each material was used and what happened to it after the shoot, so that the associated impact is added to their footprint as co2e. Note that carbon factors are not available for everything, so users can only measure these items at present. Remember to add any wardrobe transport to the equipment transport section.

Any hired (and returned) items do not need to be included.