20 Years | CO2 dashboard

In an earlier blog we announced that this year, to celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are getting on our bikes and cycling to Aarhus. We will offset the CO2 emitted during this journey by using greenSand. That is why we think it is interesting to provide insight into our journey and the associated CO2 emissions by means of a dashboard. This has resulted in a CO2 dashboard that BI consultants René van der Vlugt, Jason Forward and Pascal van Vliet created with Microsoft Power BI.

E-mergo is going to Aarhus

The reason we are cycling to Aarhus is that our partner TimeXtender was founded in that city. As TimeXtender Partner of the Year (2019&2020), we thought it would be a fun idea to cycle there for our 20th anniversary. On Wednesday 29 September we will set off from our office in Delft, so that we arrive in Aarhus on the day of our anniversary. Read more about the journey here.

Olivine sand is used to offset the CO2 emissions of the cars. This sand is a mineral that occurs in large quantities on earth and has been removing CO2 from the air for millions of years. When olivine sand comes into contact with water, it extracts the CO2 from it, causing it to ‘break down’ into sand, magnesium, bicarbonate and iron. By using this green sand during the journey, we hope to arrive in Aarhus as carbon-neutral as possible.

This sand is supplied to E-mergo in the form of a number of tins of olivine sand and a number of clean-up certificates from greenSand. The olivine sand keeps working for around 100 years before it is fully weathered, so it will offset more than just the CO2 from the journey. We have bought 12,000 kg of clean-up certificates and we expect to produce around 5,500 kg of CO2 (46% of the clean-up certificates). ​

What do you see in the dashboard?

At any moment during the journey, the dashboard shows in real time where the different groups are riding and how much CO2 they are emitting at that moment. Some cars are of course more environmentally friendly than others, so it was determined in advance which types of cars are driving in each group. Each group therefore also emits a different amount of CO2.

The map shows where each group is currently riding. Each group has one car with a GPS tracker; you can read more about this in the tracking dashboard. The rest of the cars in the group drive the same route.

To see the current state of affairs in a single sentence, a so-called narrative visual is placed in the middle of the dashboard. This summary changes as more kilometres are covered, or when filters are applied at the top of the screen. The CO2 emitted can also be read in this visualisation.

We will offset the emissions in the form of olivine certificates. This mineral absorbs CO2 over time. The line chart at the bottom shows at any moment how long it will take before the CO2 emitted has been offset. The point where the two lines intersect indicates when the CO2 absorbed equals the CO2 emitted. Any absorption after that comes on top of the CO2 emitted during our journey to Aarhus.

To check whether the routes are on schedule, a bullet chart has been placed at the top right, with the option to view progress in kilometres covered or in CO2 emitted. The line with the actual figures will move towards the expected values.

The CO2 dashboard

Open the dashboard in a new tab

Want to follow our adventure?

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E-mergo & TimeXtender