ENV-07 · Embodied vs. operational carbon

Attribute life-cycle pieces you can support with citations; refuse a single magic number.

Published LCA ranges or vendor/public disclosures for servers, buildings, or grid power — labeled by life-cycle stage. Worksheet that forces separate embodied vs operational lines. EIA for operational energy context where useful (https://www.eia.gov/).

One CO₂e number for “the cloud.” Mixing scopes without labels. Citing a calculator without showing inputs.

Stage table with citations; ranges not points where sources disagree; explicit refusal of a single headline number; recommendation for what to measure next.

CT: embodied vs operational. CR: stage-labeled citations. CO: peer checks scope mixing. CM: LCA honesty page. CZ: communities bearing operational emissions.

Env teacher reviews scope labels. School-supervised.

R1: one system boundary. R2: stages cited. R3: operational vs embodied compared. R4: disagreements shown as ranges. R5: page clear. R6: refuses magic number.

(a) One viral “AI equals X cars” figure. (b) Calculator output with hidden inputs.

Lane A immediately. No verified credit claim.