Do their emissions values include embedded emissions?

There are a number of different sources of emissions associated with any one product. Emissions are created from the extraction of the raw materials, the manufacturing of the product, the transport of the product as it is made, and its disposal. One can also look at the emissions associated with the corporation that manufactured it--travel of sales people, for example. Or at the place it is sold--did the store have energy efficient lighting? A product made of a petroleum derivative has embedded emissions based on the carbon content and global warming potential of its materials. As you can see, the calculation of all of these impacts can get very complicated very quickly. There is a whole field of study called life cycle analysis dedicated to figuring these things out. For now, we. ll just leave it to them.

We have started with the most documented and perhaps simplest source of emissions associated with products. the energy directly used by products. If you look at our database of products and emissions, you will find only things that require energy to work, such as electricity or natural gas. We have based our emissions on that energy use alone. We would love to build a database that is more inclusive in the types of associated emissions it includes, but there is not enough comprehensive data yet to make that possible. We hope that the work we have done serves as a foundation for developments in that area.

In the meantime, if you are still curious, there have been a number of excellent attempts to look at the embedded emissions and/or life cycle impacts of consumer products. A couple of the books we recommend on this subject are Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things by John C. Ryan, Alan Thein Durning, and Don Baker, and The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists by Michael Brower and Warren Leon. We assume that these books are already on your coffee table, but if for some strange reason they are not, check your local library. But if you drive there, remember to calculate the emissions from you car, and the light at the library, and the factory that those lights were made in, and...