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

In addition, Early Insights also make the following assumptions: 

• Pre-production days are spent in (average) offices and at home (50/50 split)
• Post-production days are spend in (average) offices, at home and in suite (split 3 ways)

Early Insights also use the pre- and post- countries specified in the overall project details to select the appropriate electricity factors.

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.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

For Car/Taxi journeys, Early Insights make the following assumptions:

• Local journeys are 15 miles each
• Further journeys are 100 miles each
• Car size is average, fuel is average

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.

In addition, Early Insights also make the following assumptions: 

• Mode of transport is always trucking
• A mix of HGVs, MGVs, Lutons and Panel Vans, as relevant to each shoot size option
• Local roundtrip journeys for each vehicle are 30 miles each
• Further roundtrip journeys for each vehicle are 200 miles each
• Cargo weight per truck is average
• Fuel is average for HGV and MGV, and Diesel B5 for Luton and Panel Vans

Early Insights also use the number of shoot days and shoot country specified in the overall project details to multiply the number of vehicles per day as appropriate, and select the appropriate freight factor respectively.

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.

Users detail total nights spent in hotels and any meals provided so that the associated impact is added to their footprint as co2e.

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.

In addition, Early Insights also make the following assumptions: 

• 2 'average' meals (and 2 drinks) will be consumed for every night specified

Early Insights also use the shoot country specified in the overall project details to select the appropriate accommodation factor.

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.

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.

In addition, Early Insights also make the following assumptions: 

• The amount of data in Cloud Storage is that of the Hard Drive size indicated, multiplied by number of drives, divided by 2 (if more than 1 drive); multiplied by 3 to represent multiple copies in different organisations' cloud storage (e.g., agency, production company, post-production company)
• Cloud storage data is kept for 7 years
• 0 kg co2e for Hard Drives themselves if the user indicated they are old drives being reused

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.

In addition, Early Insights use the shoot country specified in the overall project details to select the appropriate electricity factor.

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.

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. 

In addition, Early Insights also make the following assumptions: 

• Traditional small studio is 175 m2, medium is 500 m2, large is 1000 m2 and extra large is 2000 m2 (see tooltip for examples)
• Virtual small studio has 60 m2 of LED wall, medium has 200 m2 and large has 350 m2 (see tooltip for examples)
• Small generators use 24 litres of fuel per day, medium 47 litres and large 101 litres  (see tooltip for examples, in addition to size descriptions provided on the drop down). Benchmarks provided by The Fuel Project‍
• Generators use Diesel B5 fuel

A mains-powered location option is not available at present - we recommend users select a corresponding studio size instead, or use the generator option.

Early Insights also use the shoot country specified in the overall project details to select the appropriate electricity factor for traditional and virtual studios.

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.

Users detail the total 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.

In addition, Early Insights also make the following assumptions: 

• 3 meals per person, as per the average people per shoot day indicated
• If no meat is being served, an average of fish, vegetarian and vegan meal factors
• If meat is being served (but no beef), an average all meal factors except beef
• If beef is being served, an average of all meal factors
• 1 drink is consumed per meal, with 50% of drinks are served in plastic bottles and 50% in aluminium cans
• An amount of waste per meal, including: general meal waste, bottle and can waste, and an average amount of eating material waste (disposable cups / plates / cutlery)

Early Insights also use the number of shoot days and shoot country specified in the overall project details to multiply the average people per day as appropriate, and select the appropriate waste disposal method respectively.

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.

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.

In addition, Early Insights also make the assumption that: 

• Outfits are an average of the types noted above
• 50% of total outfits indicated will be hired (and are therefore 0 kg co2e)
• Of the remaining 50%, half will be reused, and half will be disposed of

Early Insights also use the shoot country specified in the overall project details to select the appropriate waste disposal method.

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.

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.

Benchmarks & Assumptions

Early Insights make the assumption that: 

• An amount of virgin wood, paper, plastic, glass, metal and paint, and recycled cardboard is used relative to the set size(s) indicated

Early Insights also use the shoot country specified in the overall project details to select the appropriate waste disposal method for all materials (except paint).

Note this section only appears on an Early Insight if the user indicates a shoot will take place.