Skip to content
FinFocus Documentation

GreenOps Carbon Equivalencies

FinFocus displays human-readable carbon emission equivalencies alongside sustainability metrics, making environmental impact more tangible and understandable.

Table of Contents

Section titled “Table of Contents”

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

When analyzing cloud infrastructure costs, FinFocus calculates carbon footprint values from provider data. The equivalencies feature converts abstract CO2e values into relatable real-world comparisons like “miles driven” or “smartphones charged.”

Where Equivalencies Appear

Section titled “Where Equivalencies Appear”

CLI Output

Section titled “CLI Output”

When running finfocus cost projected, equivalencies appear in the sustainability summary:

SUSTAINABILITY SUMMARY
======================
carbon_footprint:      150.00 kg
  Equivalent to driving ~382 miles or charging ~18,248 smartphones
energy_consumption:    2000.00 kWh

TUI Summary

Section titled “TUI Summary”

In the interactive TUI view, equivalencies appear below the provider breakdown:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ COST SUMMARY                                     │
│ Total Cost:    $245.50    Resources: 5           │
│ aws: $200.00 (81.5%)  gcp: $45.50 (18.5%)       │
│ Equivalent to driving ~382 miles or charging     │
│ ~18,248 smartphones                              │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Analyzer Diagnostics

Section titled “Analyzer Diagnostics”

During pulumi preview, equivalencies appear in compact format:

warning: finfocus: Estimated Monthly Cost: $245.50 USD (source: aws-public)
         [carbon_footprint: 150.00 kg] (≈ 382 mi, 18,248 phones)

EPA Formulas

Section titled “EPA Formulas”

Equivalencies are calculated using EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator formulas (2024 edition):

EquivalencyFormulaExplanation
Miles Drivenkg_CO2e / 0.393Average passenger vehicle: 8.89 kg CO2/gallon ÷ 22.8 mpg × GHG adj
Smartphones Chargedkg_CO2e / 0.00822Average smartphone charge: 8.22g CO2

Source: EPA GHG Equivalencies Calculator

Display Thresholds

Section titled “Display Thresholds”
Carbon ValueDisplay Behavior
< 1 kg CO2eRaw value only, no equivalencies
1 - 999,999 kgStandard equivalencies with comma separators
≥ 1,000,000 kgAbbreviated (e.g., “~5.2 million miles”)

Unit Normalization

Section titled “Unit Normalization”

FinFocus accepts carbon values in various units and normalizes them to kilograms internally:

Input UnitConversion
g, gCO2e× 0.001
kg, kgCO2e× 1.0
t, tCO2e× 1000.0
lb, lbCO2e× 0.453592

Example Calculations

Section titled “Example Calculations”

Small Project (150 kg CO2e/month)

Section titled “Small Project (150 kg CO2e/month)”
Miles driven:        150 / 0.393    = 382 miles
Smartphones charged: 150 / 0.00822  = 18,248 smartphones

Display: “Equivalent to driving ~382 miles or charging ~18,248 smartphones”

Data Center Scale (10,000,000 kg CO2e/month)

Section titled “Data Center Scale (10,000,000 kg CO2e/month)”
Miles driven:        10,000,000 / 0.393    = 25,445,293 miles
Smartphones charged: 10,000,000 / 0.00822  = 1,216,545,012 smartphones

Display: “Equivalent to driving ~25.4 million miles or charging ~1.2 billion smartphones”

Integration with Plugins

Section titled “Integration with Plugins”

Carbon footprint data comes from cost plugins through the Sustainability map in CostResult. Plugins report carbon using the canonical key carbon_footprint:

result := &engine.CostResult{
    Monthly: 245.50,
    Currency: "USD",
    Sustainability: map[string]engine.SustainabilityMetric{
        "carbon_footprint": {Value: 150.0, Unit: "kg"},
    },
}

The legacy key gCO2e is deprecated but still supported for backward compatibility.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

No Equivalencies Displayed

Section titled “No Equivalencies Displayed”
  1. Carbon value too low: Values below 1 kg don’t show equivalencies
  2. Missing carbon data: Verify plugin reports carbon_footprint metric
  3. Check unit: Ensure unit is recognized (g, kg, t, lb, or CO2e variants)

Incorrect Values

Section titled “Incorrect Values”
  1. Verify plugin reports correct units (kg vs g vs metric tons)
  2. Check for unit mismatch between providers
  3. Use --debug flag to see raw carbon values
Section titled “Related Documentation”