As you already know Neil, we are testing out the platform to see if this is something for all the Danish repair cafés. When logging the data for our event, I can see that estimated weight of the items are often a bit generous, compared to the actual weight.
Example A:
Last event the measured weight was = 25970 grams
The estimated weight was = 51000 grams
Example B:
Portable CD Player, measured weight = 245 grams
Portable CD Player, estimated weight = 9000 grams
I don’t know if example B is just a typo, but I find a 36-fold increase a bit misleading.
I appreciate the possibility to get weight estimates from the software, but it would be nice that I could tick-off the ability in settings to input it manually when we have the exact weight measured in the café.
For example A, we had to divide the estimated CO2 impact by two to get a more accurate impact estimation.
Hi Andreas, great to see you’re trying out the platform!
Neil’s away today, so hope you don’t mind me replying instead. I’ve also moved this into its own topic to keep things tidy.
Thanks for flagging this. I’m a little surprised that the estimated weight seems so much higher than the actual weight. The weight estimates come from our source data for the different product categories, which you’re welcome to check.
In some cases, it’s possible that there may be some confusion around categorising different items, which I suspect is the case with the portable CD player.
It sounds like you may have categorised the portable CD player as ‘Hi-fi integrated’, but the category ‘handheld entertainment device’ is probably more appropriate (and has an estimated weight much closer to the weight you measured: 137 grams). I appreciate this may not be obvious though! So for reference, there’s more detail about each category here.
It’s also worth knowing that, with the exception of ‘miscellaneous’ items, the CO2e prevented is calculated independently of item weight. We use source data about the embodied CO2e of each product category to make this calculation, rather than inferring it from the weight of items fixed. So, any differences between the estimated weight and the measured weight shouldn’t impact the CO2e calculation.
In any case, it’s interesting that you mention adding the ability to add an item’s weight manually to override the estimate. Indeed, this would be a smart solution and it’s something we’ve been considering (we may do it if we can find the capacity to do it). It’s helpful to know that you’d find it useful
