I found the idea behind the below Sankey diagrams quite
compelling. Both are from the user manual of the ‘Umberto for
Carbon Footprint’ software by ifu Hamburg. They are also the
makers of e!Sankey, and it seems as if most of the e!Sankey
software features are also included in this new software for
modeling and calculating product carbon footprints. I played
with the demo models included in the trial version, one of which
is for a toy parrot. The product life cycle is modeled from
cradle-to-grave with the raw materials, assembly, distribution,
use, and end-of-life phases. Using embodied carbon data from an
LCI database for the raw materials and energy used along the
life-cycle, a carbon footprint is calculated. The material and
energy flows related to the product manufacturing and use are
then shown as a Sankey diagram. The Sankey view can be switched
to an ‘embodied carbon’ or carbon load view, which shows the
‘carbon rucksack’ of the product as it cumulates along the
supply chain. In this second Sankey diag