Please note that we’re in the process of updating the GRITS Goals sections of this guide to cover the new 2.0 version, so the information below may not be up to date. If you have any GRITS Goals questions, please reach out to us at support@gogrits.org.
After adding one or more projects to your scenario, the Scenario Page will reload. In the chart at the top of the page you’ll now see the projected impact of your scenario projects on your annual emissions or resource consumption level. Several elements appear in the chart:
- Actual emissions or resource consumption: The past (measured) amount of annual emissions or resource consumption at this scenario’s scale (institution-wide, one particular campus/site, or one particular facility). This data is pulled from the Consumption Tab when it is available, and it appears as a solid black line. When this data isn’t available, the chart displays a dotted black line to indicate a projection, and it appears at the level of the goal’s baseline. The chart shows past data for up to two years prior to the baseline.
- Baseline: The amount of annual emissions or resource consumption at the beginning of the goal period.
- Business as usual (Unmitigated): A projection showing how annual emissions or resource consumption would change from the baseline if no sustainability projects were implemented. This projection grows according to the user-defined growth rate. It appears as a dotted red line.
- Projected emissions or resource consumption (Scenario): A projection showing how annual emissions or resource consumption would change if the scenario projects are implemented. Project savings kick in according to the schedule set up in the Project Timeline section. This projection grows according to the user-defined growth rate. It appears as a light green dotted line.
- Projected emissions or resource consumption (Overall: Scenario + Relevant Non-Scenario Projects): A projection showing how annual emissions or resource consumption would change when accounting for all projects that save the resource targeted in this scenario. This projection adds together the projects in this scenario and those not part of it, as long as they reduce the targeted resource and occur at the same scale. All In-Progress and Completed projects in the Candidate Projects list are included, as well as Proposed projects that belong to implemented plans matching this scenario’s targeted resource and scale. This projection grows according to the user-defined growth rate. It appears as a dark green dotted line. If there are no relevant projects outside of the scenario, then this projection won’t appear.
- Progress to date (Projected): The point on the scenario projection line that corresponds to today’s date.
- Intermediate Target: A milestone target for annual emissions or resource consumption between your baseline and primary target.
- Progress at Intermediate Target (Projected): The point on the scenario projection line that corresponds to the date of the intermediate target.
- Primary Target: The ultimate target for annual emissions or resource consumption at the conclusion of the goal period.
- Progress at Primary Target (Projected): The point on the scenario projection line that corresponds to the date of your primary target.
You can remove any chart element by deselecting it in the legend below the chart.
The tick marks on the chart’s x-axis delineate fiscal years. The space between the tick marks, where a year appears, is the span of that fiscal year (e.g. | 2030 | is the span of fiscal year 2030).
Hover your cursor over the chart elements to get more information. You can see:
- Actual emissions/Actual resource consumption: The past (measured) amount of annual emissions or resource consumption at this scenario’s scale (institution-wide, one particular campus/site, or one particular facility)
- Date (or Fiscal Year, if looking at the business as usual projection)
- Business as usual (FY total): The projected total emissions/resource consumption for the selected fiscal year under business as usual (i.e. if no projects are implemented)
- Projected emissions/Projected resource consumption:
- If you’re looking at the scenario projection, this number is the anticipated annual emissions/resource consumption at the selected point in time if scenario projects are implemented
- If you’re looking at the overall projection, this number is the anticipated annual emissions/resource consumption at the selected point in time if the scenario projects and the relevant non-scenario projects are implemented
- Saved Annually: The aggregate annual savings from projects that are projected to be complete at the selected point in time
- Progress at Intermediate/Primary Target: The projected progress towards the intermediate and primary target (only appears in the Progress to date, Progress at Intermediate Target, and Progress at Primary Target chart elements)
Every point on the chart represents the projected annual emissions or resource consumption level on that day. For example, if you hover your cursor over the point that ends the 2030 fiscal year, the projected emissions/consumption amount appearing there is what you should expect to emit/consume over the course of the year ending at that point (the full 2030 fiscal year).
The chart assumes that once any level of resource reduction has been attained, those savings will be maintained by replacing expiring equipment with its equivalent. This assumption means that when a project expires, the projected emissions/resource consumption line doesn’t increase to where it was prior to the project’s installation.
The data displayed in the chart can also be viewed in table form by clicking on the “Chart Data Table” sub-tab above the chart. There are two tables.
The one at the top, titled “Chart Data [units]”, displays the total emissions/resource consumption for each fiscal year until the end of the goal period. The unit that appears in the table title (e.g. MTCO2e, MMBTU, etc.) applies to all values appearing in the table. Use this table to see how your operations are projected to change from one fiscal year to the next. If you have a positive growth rate, then you will see emissions/resource consumption rise over time, except in years where a project is installed and its savings exceed the expected growth.
The table on the bottom, titled “Fiscal Year Savings by Project [units]”, breaks down the resource savings contributed by each project in the scenario. Use this table to see where savings are coming from in each fiscal year of the goal period. Unless a project is projected to be installed at the beginning of a fiscal year, its first year of savings will be smaller than the rest because these savings accrued over a partial year. The top row of the table shows the aggregate savings for each fiscal year. Importantly, while the chart assumes that each project will be replaced with its equivalent if its lifespan ends within the goal period, the table does not display these assumed savings. Instead, if a project in your scenario expires, it will no longer register savings in this table.
