Crop Carbon Intensity Maps for Faster Facility Site Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manufacturers face challenges in locating production facilities in areas with low carbon intensity for crop production, as existing methods lack efficient tools to quickly assess and compare the carbon intensity of different geographic regions.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for displaying carbon intensity maps that overlay geographic regions with varying carbon intensities, allowing users to select optimal locations based on crop-specific carbon intensity data, and include tools for correcting inaccuracies in county-wide data using actual farm data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manufacturers manually assess carbon intensity of different geographic regions, then decision accuracy is improved, but time consumption and evaluation efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the geographic area into multiple regions and calculates carbon intensity for each region separately based on local crop production data. This segmentation allows efficient comparison of multiple sites while maintaining accurate carbon intensity measurements for each location, resolving the contradiction between assessment accuracy and evaluation time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-calculates and stores carbon intensity values for multiple geographic regions before site selection decisions are made. By performing these calculations in advance using available crop production and emission data, manufacturers can quickly compare sites without undergoing time-consuming assessments at the decision-making stage.
2Productivity
If county-wide average data is used for carbon intensity estimation, then data collection efficiency is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by adjusting county-wide average carbon intensity data with farm-specific characteristics such as crop type, production practices, and local conditions. This allows the system to start with efficient county-level data collection while improving precision for individual farms through localized adjustments based on specific farm data.
3Measurement precision
If detailed farm-level carbon intensity data is collected for all regions, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and data processing requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial action by collecting detailed farm-level data only for representative farms within each county rather than all farms. This selective approach provides sufficient precision for regional carbon intensity estimation while significantly reducing the complexity of data collection and processing systems compared to comprehensive farm-level monitoring.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving a designation of an area on a displayed map and identifying a plurality of geographic regions that together span the area on the displayed map. For each geographic region, a carbon intensity for a crop grown in the geographic region is obtained to form a plurality of carbon intensities. The plurality of carbon intensities are used to determine a carbon intensity for the crop across the area and the carbon intensity for the crop across the area is displayed.