What's the carbon footprint of your handwash?

A heat map gives a reading of how much energy is used in the supply chain and production of ingredients in a company's products.

(Credit: Planet Metrics)

Start-up Planet Metrics is developing software that could give consumers a better read on the embedded energy of everyday products.

The San Francisco-based company on Tuesday released the beta test version of its hosted application, which it calls Rapid Carbon Modeling. It also said Method, which makes eco-friendly home-cleaning products, is a customer.

There are a number of companies writing software for calculating how much energy is linked to a business' operations and managing carbon emissions. Planet Metrics' software is geared at manufacturers and makers of consumer packaged goods.

Using Planet Metrics' software, a person could, for example, see how much energy consumption is associated with procuring the components that make up a cell phone. With that information, a company can then look for ways to cut energy consumption, such as reducing waste or finding another supplier.

The carbon footprint picture is built by combining a company's internal data, such as bills for certain materials, with scientific and academic models for calculating embedded energy, according to Planet Metrics.

Method is using the software in product design and sourcing, co-founder Adam Lowry said in a statement. "By better understanding volatile energy and resource prices, we can make better decisions to lessen the overall footprint (of our products) and save money," he said.

Planet Metrics CEO Andy Leventhal said the company does not yet have hard return-on-investment numbers for its software, but companies with sustainability initiatives, such as Wal-Mart Stores, have found significant savings in reducing fuel use and waste.

[dbargen]

Better Question:

Who in their right mind cares?

[why do i need a name?]

oh, you beat me to it!

[harchh]

Exactly...

[The_happy_switcher]

Slow news day. I guess they couldn't find any Apple v. Microsoft topics to start a new flame war and generate numerous page/ad hits. lol

[jimallen3d]

Personally, I am tired of being told, that I am the blame. When in all actuality it is our governments failure to deliver equitable mass transportations systems, failure to utlize our resources here at home wisely, have too long followed a progressive path. This is just more brainwashing, and controlling by self appointed monarchs.

[zyxxy]

Wouldn't government delivery of mass transit and utilization of local resources be a form of progressive government? Are you complaining about government being too progressive and not progressive enough in the same sentence?

[harchh]

No, "jmallen3d" is not doing what you ask if he's doing. You left out his important adjectives, "equitable" and "wisely" (perhaps not an adjective, but the point remains the same).

His complaint is obviously that government programs are concerned more about uplifting their supporters than providing good transportation infrastructures and making good use of resources. He's proposal is not for anarchy. His proposal is that government programs be implemented fairly and without the obvious intent of buying votes.

[mattie121]

Wow, what a bunch of winers. This is a story about a company that is creating a tool for other companies to use to try to find ways to cut costs from their products via energy content analysis. This is a good thing. Maybe some companies will use it to good benefit. There is no requirement that this analysis method be adopted and used, but if one sees a way to use tools like this for economic advantage, there may be some win-wins! What's so wrong about that?

So who in their right mind cares? People who want to lower product manufacturing costs, people who want to look at indirect impacts when judging between to similarly priced alternatives, and those who want to take their head out of the sand and make a more informed decision.

[yacahuma]

I think it is pretty cool.

[sevort]

Trees need carbon dioxide to produce oxygen for us, so it's time to stop all this madness about carbon footprints...

[DoughboyNJ]

What is the carbon footprint of CNET? Or of this ridiculous article?

And who will check this company to see if its ratings are accurate?
The products of reputable blue chip companies will be blacklisted by a green company that could be making up their numbers out of thin air?

And what major company is going to reveal exactly how they make their products, if they are proprietary?

How does drivel like this get published?

[freemarket--2008]

Any competent chemist can break a product down into it's basic components. It's not rocket science.

[mattie121]

I guess cause the editors have the same attention to detail in reading that many of the commenters seem to have....

This is an enterprise software package that companies would buy (or licence or whatever) for internal use so they can make better decision. Your assumption that no companies would use the service because they wouldn't want the let out there secrets implies that no one would use Oracle or SAP because of the same fears.