The CRANE Tool Wiki

Quick start

Resources

Explore

Quick start

Step 6: Check your unit impact

Reviewing the unit impact based on the incumbent and solution unit emissions.

⁠

Back to quick start

⁠

Previous: Solution emissions

⁠

Next: SAM

⁠

In this step you can review your unit impact based on the values you have input for the solution unit emissions and incumbent unit emissions. The unit impact is calculated by subtracting the solution unit emissions from the incumbent unit emissions. This difference is referred to as the

@Unit impact⁠

On this page, you will find:

⁠

Review your unit impact⁠

⁠

Cross reference your unit impact⁠

⁠

FAQs⁠

⁠

Learn more about

Unit Impact⁠

from Project Frame.

⁠

Don’t forget to save!

Your progress in the tool does not save automatically. If you are not finished inputting data for your tool, click through to the end and save the solution to your solutions. You can then go back and open the model in “My Solutions” and edit the inputs later.

⁠

Review your unit impact

This step is for you to check your emissions data and assess whether or not the values are realistic.

A positive value means your solution unit emissions are lower than the incumbent unit emissions. You can also see this as the “emissions savings” per unit sold. We will expect a climate technology to have a positive unit impact, as you are aiming improve performance of an existing technology (the new solution should have a lower impact than the existing). This value should always be positive.

A negative value means your solution unit emissions are higher than the incumbent unit emissions. This means your solution is more polluting than the existing incumbent solution. In this case you should check if the values you’ve input in the previous steps are correct.

⁠

Back to top⁠

Next: Step 7⁠

⁠

Cross reference your unit impact

You can review the references by clicking back and forth between the incumbent and solution unit emissions data and determine whether the proposed unit impact is feasible. You can do a quick check by calculating the percentage improvement the solution unit provides compared to the base case.

For example:

In the case of in vitro lab cultured meat, where the chosen incumbent market is beef and veal consumption, the incumbent market unit emissions are ~37 MMt CO2e/Mt and the solution unit emissions are ~7.5 MMt CO2e/Mt. This is an reduction of ~80% CO2 emissions for cultured meat.

We then research carbon footprint lab cultured meat, which gives us multiple sources. In this case we choose a source from a reliable institution, such as the Dutch independent research firm CE Delft (who work together with TU Delft and the Good Food Institute): “

Ex‑ante life cycle assessment of commercial‑scale cultivated meat production in 2030⁠

”.

⁠

If we compare their Cultivated meat conversion ratio to that of Beef the efficiency improvement is also approximately 80%. In line with the values found in the CRANE tool.

* Disclaimer for this example: there are also sources that state that indicate cultivated meat has a higher impact than traditional beef. It is up to the user to determine which sources to rely on and utilize for the assessment.

Back to top⁠

Next: Step 7⁠

⁠

FAQs

How do I take into account emission factors? Where do I get emissions factors from?

Emissions factors relate the unit of the solution to an amount of pollutant emitted to the environment.

From Project Frame’s perspective, the pollutants of interest are GHGs. As such, emissions factors will typically be expressed in terms of kg CO₂e per unit of the solution being analyzed. Emissions factors often come from life cycle analysis or assessment (LCA), which is a cumulative accounting of all current measured GHG emissions connected to a particular product or process within a specified system boundary. You can read more about Project Frame’s take on emissions factors

here

⁠

What if my unit impact is not in line with what I’ve researched?

This is a time for you to critically evaluate the model. Perhaps the input data from the incumbent or solution unit emissions is outdated and needs to be updated. Check for things such as region specific data, as emissions factors for energy usage change drastically depending on your location.

No results from filter

⁠

Back to top⁠

Next: Step 7⁠

⁠

Back to quick start

⁠

Previous: Solution emissions

⁠

Next: SAM

⁠

Review your unit impact

Cross reference your unit impact

FAQs

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.