Standard Factors

Standard factors are assigned automatically when data for a corresponding point type is uploaded. You can visit the Emissions app's Standard Factors page, to review the lists of factors available, each corresponding to the point type they support.

Standard factor assignments can be overwritten with custom factors or other standard factors at the building or point level by editing a factor on the Emissions app, Building Emissions tab.

For your convenience, any custom emission factors or standard emission factors that are assigned to a building will continue to apply to the building in subsequent years—unless and until you have assigned new, updated factors to the building. For example, if you assign a factor for 2016 and one for 2020, then the 2016 factor will also apply to 2017, 2018, and 2019, after which the 2020 factor will supersede. By removing a factor assignment, the building will revert to using the most recent previous year for which a custom factor exists.

Building default factors will be assigned to your data points automatically if there is a factor available for the given point type. Learn how to view and configure which default factors are set in Emissions settings.

We use industry best practices to determine which emission factor inventory year is assigned to the given data year. In most cases our system defaults can be overwritten in the Emissions app or Organization settings, with the exception of 'Market-based electricity (Green-e).'

If a point type has multiple emission factors available in the selected default emission factor categories, the emission factor will be assigned according to the following default ranking:

Default vs. non-default emission factors:

When multiple emission factors exist for the same point type within an emission factor category, one is chosen as the default factor. The default factor is shown in black and assigned by default where the point type and emission factor category are a match. Any additional available factors will be displayed in gray, and have to be assigned manually via Building emissions > Edit factor.

According to GHG Protocol, it is an established global framework that measures greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions spanning private and public sector operations, value chains, and mitigation actions.

The organization supplies the world's most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standards, and in 2016, 92% of Fortune 500 companies responding to the CDP used GHG Protocol directly or indirectly through a program based on GHG Protocol.

U.S. EPA. Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) is a comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the U.S.
We offers two different eGRID factor choices:

eGRID subregion emissions uniformly attribute electric generation in a specific region based on the generation that takes place in that part of the country. Defined by EPA, subregion end-use consumptive emissions rates are most similar to the generation emissions rates from the power plants within the subregion.

The eGRID subregion total output emission rates are used for estimating scope 2 emissions under the World Resources Institute (WRI), The Climate Registry (TCR), the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR), and the former EPA Climate Leaders protocols.

Emission rates in eGRID represent emissions and rates at the point of generation. Because eGRID state factors are bounded by state geography, they may exclude generation that is relevant to the area, as they do not consider how fuel mixes differ geographically across different parts of a state.

To specify how standard factors correspond to each inventory year for your organization, select 'eGRID emission factors'. In the modal window, select the appropriate eGRID edition for each year displayed.

The following table shows the default relationship between eGRID editions and the data years to which they apply:

View U.S. EPA's eGRID Q&A to learn more

Where more-accurate information about the resources and emissions associated with electricity use is not available from the user’s state, region, or electricity supplier, residual mix emissions rates should be used. Because regional residual mix emissions rates that factor out all specified electricity purchases are not yet available for all regions of the U.S. or published by a national data source, we offer rates provided by Green-e®, adjusted to remove all Green-e® Energy certified sales for each eGRID subregion.

This factor is assigned by default but can be overwritten by a custom factor specific to your market, if available.

The following table shows the default relationship between Green-e® editions and the data years to which they apply. Because Green-e® factors are calculated using corresponding eGRID editions, any changes made in Org settings to the eGRID default factors will trigger the corresponding Green-e® default assignment years to update accordingly:

The assignment year (the calendar year in which emissions occurred) is determined by the data used to calculate the factors in the given edition year.

Reporting frameworks including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) require organizations to report on Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity to be reported two ways: one based on the location-based method, and one based on the market-based method.

There are two ways to view total emissions from purchased electricity throughout the platform.

Emissions app
Toggle between the two options for electricity emissions using the dropdown at the top of the page

Dashboards
Use the fields Reporting category and Electricity emissions to specify which emissions to display when the chosen point type includes electricity.

Prepared with versions of the US Environmentally-Extended Input-Output (USEEIO) Models, the Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors for US Industries and Commodities, are used to generate supply chain GHG emission factors, which are life cycle models of goods, services, and industries in the US economy.

For each category of goods or services, we provide 2 emission factors:

*Emissions associated with factory gate to shelf, which includes emissions from transportation, wholesale and retail as well as adjustments for price markups.
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The 2024 release is based on 2022 data. We've adjusted the emission factors according to the release year using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator, and the following calculation: