Which determinants does my activity need? | Green Project Technologies Help Center

What a determinant is

A determinant is a piece of information Measure uses to choose an emission factor, such as fuel_code, country, vehicle_code or naics_code. Determinants define what an activity consumes, where, and in what. The activity's category decides which determinants apply.

How Measure uses them

For each category, Measure knows which combinations of determinants its factors are keyed on. An activity gets a factor when it has every determinant in at least one of those combinations, and each value is one Measure recognizes.

A few things follow from that:

Partial isn't enough. A mobile combustion activity with a fuel_code but no vehicle_code won't match, because every mobile combustion factor needs both.
Extra determinants are ignored. A country on a stationary combustion activity does no harm, but it doesn't help either. Stationary combustion factors are chosen by fuel alone.
More specific wins. If an activity has enough information for both a national and a regional factor, Measure uses the regional one.
Codes fall back upward, not downward. If 020502 (Motor Gasoline) had no factor, Measure would try its broader parent code. It never guesses a more specific child code from a general one, which is why general codes like 0210 (Propane) can come up empty.

Where determinants come from

An activity's determinants come from two places:

The activity's tags. Not all tags are determinants, but many tags do act as determinants. For example a fuel_code column with the value 020502 is a tag, but also acts as the determinant saying a Motor Gasoline factor should be assigned.
The associated tag's traits. Any extra column on the Tags sheet becomes a trait on every activity carrying that tag. If the column name matches a determinant the activity's category uses, it counts as a determinant. For example, country on a facility tag applies to every activity at that facility.

Only keys that exactly match a determinant name count. Country or fuel code won't be read as country or fuel_code.

Tip: set each determinant in one place, either on the activity or on its facility tag. If the same determinant appears in both places with different values, it's hard to tell which one will be used.

What each category needs

Category	Needs	Can also use, for a more specific factor
s1.1 Stationary combustion	`fuel_code`
s1.2 Mobile combustion	`fuel_code` and `vehicle_code`	`vehicle_year` (some road vehicles if using EPA factors)
s1.3 Fugitive emissions	`gas`, such as `R-134a`
s2.1 Electricity	`country`	`us_egrid` (US), `ca_province` (Canada), `au_state` (Australia)
s2.2 Chilled water	`chilled_water_system`	See the note below
s2.3 District heat and steam	Nothing. One standard factor applies
s3.1 Purchased goods and services	`naics_code`	Without one, a general average factor is used
s3.2 Capital goods	`naics_code`
s3.4 Upstream transportation and distribution	`naics_code`
s3.5 Waste generated in operations	`material` and `disposal_method`, or `naics_code`
s3.6 Business travel	`naics_code`
s3.8 Upstream leased assets	`leased_asset_activity_type`, plus any additional tags required by the underlying type	See the note below
s3.9 Downstream transportation and distribution	`naics_code`
s3.12 End-of-life treatment of sold products	`material` and `disposal_method`, or `naics_code`
s3.13 Downstream leased assets	`leased_asset_activity_type`, plus what that type needs

Every other category needs your own factor. See Adding your own emission factors.

Notes on specific categories

Electricity (s2.1). country is enough for a national factor. For a regional one you don't have to look up the region yourself. Measure works it out from:

US: country = US plus postal_code_short (the ZIP code) gives the eGRID subregion. Adding us_utility_code makes it more precise.
Canada: country = CA plus administrative_area (the province) gives ca_province.
Australia: country = AU plus administrative_area gives au_state, except for Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Those have more than one grid, so set au_state directly.

Market-based factors are available for the US, Australia and most European countries. Elsewhere, the market-based method uses the location-based factor instead.

Chilled water (s2.2). If chilled_water_system is electric_driven_chiller or left blank, the activity is treated like electricity and needs a country. If it's absorption_chiller or engine_driven_chiller, a chilled-water factor is used.

Leased assets (s3.8 and s3.13). Set leased_asset_activity_type to the kind of activity the asset produces, for example s2.1 for a leased building's electricity. The activity then needs the same determinants as that category. A leased building's electricity needs a country, just like an s2.1 activity.

Spend-based categories. Factors keyed on naics_code are per dollar spent. Record the consumption as spend (purchaser_price in USD) and use a 6-digit NAICS code.

Common mistakes

Mobile combustion with only a fuel. Add a vehicle_code.
A misspelled or differently cased column name on the Tags or Activities sheet, such as Country instead of country.
A general code where a specific one is needed. Use the most specific fuel or vehicle code you can.

Still stuck?

Contact your Green Project team with the activity's ref_id and the year. We can see exactly which determinants Measure was looking for and which ones it found.