A quick definition of embodied energy is the energy required for an entire lifecycle of that item. This includes material extractions, transport, manufacture, assembly, and deconstruction.
I'll use a brick as a brief (and no way complete) example:
Extraction:
- A tractor scoops up the raw clay material
- That tractor is made of and uses metal, wires, gasoline, etc
- Labors
- A driver must operate the tractor
- The driver ate breakfast that morning
- Trucks carry the clay to the factory (possibly hundreds of miles)
- Truck material, labors, roads, etc
Manufacture:
- Processes the clay
- mixed with straw and other materials
- straw grew in a field
- sun gave light, photosynthesis occurred, etc
- put into mold
- mold was designed, calculated, etc
- Fires the brick
- Electric furnace heats the bricks
- electricity came from grid
- runs off of coal burning power plant
- transmission lose
- scrubbers needed to clean the smoke stacks
- heat lose, dissipated energy
- Moves bricks to warehouse
- semi-truck or train
Assembly:
- Bricks stored on wooden palette
- wooden palette came from a tree: extracted, processed, assembled, etc (I think you get the idea)
- Inventoried, cataloged, bar coded
- Purchased and moved to construction site
- labors begin laying brick for a building, one by one
- labors eat breakfast, drank coffee, drove to work, etc
- Coffe has embodied energy too
- coffee beans came from Columbia, shipped by boat,
Deconstruction:
- Building is removed
- bricks can possibly be used in another location
Transport:
- All along the way there were roads for the tractors, trucks, and other vehicles
- Vehicles run on gas or diesel
- create pollution in the air
Clearly a lot of energy is embodied in everything around us. Even something as everyday as a single brick, has energy tied to it. That is one reason why recycling old materials is so important. If it can be reused it should, otherwise all (or most of) that embodied energy would be lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment