Embodied Energy

8 Key excerpts on "Embodied Energy"

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  eBook - ePub

  Green Communications

  Principles, Concepts and Practice

  • Konstantinos Samdanis, Peter Rost, Andreas Maeder, Michela Meo, Christos Verikoukis, Konstantinos Samdanis, Peter Rost, Andreas Maeder, Michela Meo, Christos Verikoukis, Konstantinos Samdanis, Christos Verikoukis(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  includes the energy associated with maintaining, repairing, and replacing materials and components of the device over its lifetime. Some authors prefer an expanded definition associated with a broader field known as life cycle assessment (LCA) which attempts to characterize all environmental impacts from “cradle-to-grave,” extending the above-mentioned components with the energy used for extraction of resources following by the energy for sales, use, demolition, and disposal of equipment.

  Even though it seems that the consideration of the Embodied Energy in the process of total energy evaluation in the field of ICT is a somehow new approach, it has a long tradition in other disciplines, such as building construction [7] and car production [8]. Embodied Energy has already been taken into account in some fields of electronics engineering, such as photovoltaic [9] and even with ICT more closely related areas, such as computer industry [10] and mobile phone production [11]. Figure 4.1 shows the relation between the embodied and operating energy for the representative technologies/products of three selected societies (urban, industrial, and information) during their life cycles (a) buildings/house, (b) vehicles/car, and (c) ICT/electronic equipment (a BS3 which will later be discussed in more detail). Although the numbers used in these figures are rough estimations for averages of greatly varying values4

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  Sustainable Practices in the Built Environment

  • Craig Langston(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Biomass fuels provide a more complex problem. Whilst they are from renewable sources, they are also carbon based, meaning they liberate carbon dioxide and water vapour through combustion. Thus, they are not as ‘green’ as many would wish them to be.

  15.3 Embodied Energy

  Most commonly Embodied Energy is defined as ‘the energy consumed in all activities necessary to support a process, including upstream processes’ (Treloar, 1997 , p. 375). Embodied Energy is divided into two components, the direct energy requirement and the indirect energy requirement. Direct energy includes the inputs of energy purchased from producers used directly in a process (including, in the case of a building, the energy to construct it). Indirect energy includes the energy embodied in inputs of goods and services to a process, as well as the energy embodied in upstream inputs to those processes (Treloar, 1997 , p. 376).

  Our interest in Embodied Energy in relation to the built environment concerns the flows of energy through buildings and their individual components and systems over their life cycle. Strategies aimed at minimizing the energy consumption of buildings has to date been focused on operational considerations, however this focus alone will not affect maximum mitigation of fossil fuel use. Further consideration is necessary of the impact of energy embodied within the specific processes related to the production, manufacture, construction, demolition and disposal of products and services related to buildings.

  Traditional thinking dictated that the Embodied Energy of building construction was relatively small compared with the energy used in its operational life. Contemporary research has now demonstrated that Embodied Energy can actually comprise up to 50% of the total energy flows of a building over its life cycle (Adalberth, 1994 ; Pullen, 1996 ; Treloar, 1996b ; Mackley, 1998 and 1999 ).

  The term used to describe the quantification of life cycle energy flows is energy life cycle analysis (ELCA). The ELCA balance for a building includes consideration of the initial capital Embodied Energy (including all construction materials), the direct site energy for construction, the direct energy consumed in operation and maintenance, the capital and recurring Embodied Energy for the same maintenance and repairs, and the energy to demolish it and to recycle the salvaged materials. It is internationally accepted that an ELCA must follow the measurement and system boundary methodology established by ISO 14040 and 14042 (International Standards Organization, 1998

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  Green Energy

  An A-to-Z Guide

  • Dustin Mulvaney, Dustin R. Mulvaney(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Applications The analysis of Embodied Energy, also referred to as life cycle energy, has been applied in depth to buildings, households, energy itself, and food among other fields. Embodied Energy in building materials is a key consideration for green builders and generally makes up a greater portion of total energy use in energy-efficient buildings. Of primary impor-tance are the energy intensity of material production as well as the mass of the material needed. For example, aluminum and cement have high Embodied Energy, because of the high temperatures required for manufacturing the two materials. Heavier materials and those with greater mass require greater quantities of fuel for transportation. Recycling and reuse of materials can decrease Embodied Energy in building materials. Scholars investigating the energy requirements of households look at their direct energy use, such as electricity and motor fuels, as well as their indirect energy use, made up of the energy embodied in goods and services consumed by households. Research shows indirect 117 Embodied Energy energy making up the majority of household energy consumption and Embodied Energy playing a major role in studied nations’ total energy consumption. Food has been identified as a key leverage point at which Embodied Energy can be reduced at the household level, in part because food is consumed in large amounts over a short duration of time as com-pared with other goods like vehicles and electronics. In the cases of both food and fuel, the total energy inputs, or Embodied Energy, can be contrasted with the energy output of the final product, yielding a ratio referred to as the energy return on investment. For example, the energy inputs needed for corn-based ethanol are much higher than those of cellulosic ethanol, yet the former is the manufacturing pro-cess that is more developed.

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  Building Futures

  Managing energy in the built environment

  • Jane Powell, Jennifer Monahan, Chris Foulds(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Embodied Energy is not generally considered when a building is designed, specified and constructed. Yet quantifying the Embodied Energy of a building enables the identification of ‘hotspots’, which suggest opportunities for reducing Embodied Energy and the management of environmental impacts of a building. Hotspots refer to areas for which improved material choice and/or manufacturing practices can reduce energy consumption and remove unnecessary harmful environmental impacts.

  In summary, the relative importance of Embodied Energy increases as buildings become more energy efficient. By focusing on reducing operational energy, only part of the whole picture is considered. Not only does neglecting to account for Embodied Energy represent a lost opportunity for reducing the environmental impacts of the built environment, it may also have the unintended consequence of increasing the use of energy-hungry and carbon-intensive products, such as plastics in high-performance insulation products. The resulting allocation of resources, when considered over the whole lifetime of a building, may not actually achieve overarching energy and environmental goals.

  In this chapter we introduce the principal concepts involved in understanding Embodied Energy. In particular, we focus on the methodological approaches used to quantify the Embodied Energy associated with a building over its whole lifetime. We provide suggestions for changes that can be made to reduce Embodied Energy so as to lower the lifecycle energy and the carbon of buildings. The implications of using ‘natural’ construction materials are also explored.

  3.2 The lifecycle of buildings

  Energy is used and emissions occur at all points in the lifecycle stages of a building. The lifecycle of a building is typically viewed linearly, beginning with the extraction of raw materials and ending with demolition and waste management at end-of-life (Figure 3.1

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  The Carbon Footprint Handbook

  • Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Input–output techniques developed by Leontief (1986) for analyzing industrial interdependencies in a national or regional economic system today constitute solid theoretical underpinnings for Embodied Energy assessment (e.g. Treloar 1997; Treolor et al. 2003). Since then, it has been common to also find Embodied Energy concepts being used in industrial and chemical processes. Van Gool (1980) evaluated the product (“process” plus “embodied”) energy required for chemical process equipment, often termed “unit operations.” Before the recent applications of input–output techniques (e.g. Treloar 1997; Treolor et al. 2003) in the Embodied Energy analysis, the technique had already featured in environmental applica-tions (Leontief 1970) in the 1970s. Specifically, Hannon (1973) adopted the input–output technique (Leontief 1986) in the Embodied Energy analysis to describe ecosystem energy flows. Similar to Leontief’s input–output theory, energy inputs to a system are aggregated from all subsidiary path-ways to yield the total Embodied Energy or gross energy requirement (Cabeza et al. 2013). There are two forms of Embodied Energy in buildings (Harries 2007; Shrivastava and Chini 2012). The initial Embodied Energy consists of nonrenewable energy required to extract and pro-cess its raw materials (indirect energy) and the energy used to transport the finished product to the job site and install it (direct energy) (Harries 2007; Shrivastava and Chini 2012). The recurring Embodied Energy of a building component can be defined as the nonrenewable energy consumed to maintain and replace it, as well as recycle or disposing it at the end of its useful life (Harries 2007; Shrivastava and Chini 2012). Operational energy of buildings is the energy required for maintain-ing comfort conditions and day-to-day maintenance of the buildings by operating processes such as heating and cooling, lighting and appliances, and air conditioning (Ramesh et al. 2010).

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  Energy, Economics, And The Environment

  Conflicting Views Of An Essential Interrelationship

  • Herman E Daly(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  6. Embodied Energy, Energy Analysis, and Economics Robert Costanza The thesis that available energy limits and governs the structure of human societies is not new. In 1886 Boltzmann pointed out that life is primarily a struggle for available energy. Soddy (1) stated in 1933: If we have available energy, we may maintain life and produce every material requisite necessary. That is why the flow of energy should be the primary concern of economics (p. 56). The flow of energy has not been the primary concern of mainstream eco-nomists, although the importance of energy to the functioning of economic systems has by now been recognized by almost everyone. Who can deny the dramatic effects of the 1973 Arab oil embargo and the 1979 Irani~n revolution? The debate now focuses on the nature and details of the energy connection and the conclusions are critically important to several aspects of national policy. This paper extends earlier input-output based analysis of energy-economy linkages by incorporating the energy costs of labor and government services and solar energy inputs. The flow of energy is the primary concern of what has come to be known as energy analysis (2, 3, 4). An important aspect of energy analysis is determining the total (direct and indirect) energy required for the production of economic or environmental goods and services. This total quantity has been termed the Embodied Energy. For example, the energy embodied in an automobile includes the energy consumed directly in the manufacturing plant plus all the energy consumed indirectly to produce the other inputs to auto manufacturing, such as glass, upholstery, steel, plastic, labor, capital, etc. A problem immediately apparent from this definition involves the procedures chosen to calculate indirect energy requirements. Embodied Energy values are thus contingent on methodological considerations. Input-output (I-0) analysis is well suited to calcu-lating indirect effects in a systematic and all-inclusive 119

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  Water - Energy Interactions in Water Reuse

  • Valentina Lazarova, Kwang-Ho Choo, Peter Cornel(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • IWA Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 4 Embodied Energy in the water cycle Michael J. Wilson 4.1 INTRODUCTION The traditional linear approach to water resource management is increasingly proving to be unsustainable due to water stress being placed on urban water management (Daigger, 2009). The water qualities of various reclaimed wastewaters and the energy consumed by the unit processes have not been taken into consideration when evaluating and making decisions on water portfolios by the industry as a whole. This inequality in the full life cycle cost analysis has grown out of traditional thinking and has lead to an inefficient and compartmentalized approach to water resource management. For example, a U.S. Department of Energy Report to Congress in 2006 on Energy Demands on Water Resources did not even discuss the energy associated with recycled water nor was there a comparison to show the energy benefits associated with the Embodied Energy within recycled water (U.S. Department of Energy, 2006). Surprisingly this concept is only beginning to be grasped and taken into account in decision making. Consequently it becomes evident that energy considerations be included in water resource planning and water production. This chapter will provide a methodology to include Embodied Energy in a full life cycle cost analysis within the water cycle by incrementally adding the energy consumed by each unit process to obtain a water quality product in terms of kilowatt-hours per cubic meters and million gallons (kWh / m 3 and kWh / MG). The chapter includes discussion on how Embodied Energy and energy intensity impacts water quality through a value chain. Additionally, a sustainability principle is presented for recycled water that is derived from energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and full life cycle costs to show that water reuse is a key element in water resource management.

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  Towards an Environment Research Agenda

  A Third Selection of Papers

  • A. Winnett(Author)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Part IV Technology, Engineering and the Environment 175 8 Engineering Sustainability: Thermodynamics, Energy Systems and the Environment Geoffrey P. Hammond Summary Thermodynamic concepts have been utilized by practitioners in a variety of disciplines with interests in environmental sustainability, including ecology, economics and engineering. Widespread concern about resource depletion and environmental degradation are common to them all. It has been argued that these consequences of human development are reflected in thermodynamic ideas and methods of analysis; they are said to mirror energy transformations within society. The concept of ‘exergy’, which follows from the second law of thermodynamics, is viewed as providing the basis of a tool for resource and/or emissions accounting. It is also seen as indicating natural limits on the attainment of sustain- ability. The more traditional use of the exergy method is illustrated by a number of cases drawn from the United Kingdom energy sector: elec- tricity generation, combined heat and power schemes, and energy productivity in industry. This indicates the scope for increasing energy efficiency, and the extent of exergetic ‘improvement potential’, in each of these areas. Poor thermodynamic performance is principally the result of exergy losses in combustion and heat transfer processes. However, the application of such thermodynamic ideas outside the sphere of engineering is not without its critics. The link between the efficiency of resource utilization, pollutant emissions and ‘exergy consumption’ is real, but not direct. Methods of energy and exergy analysis are therefore employed to critically evaluate thermodynamic concepts as measures of sustainability.

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