Embodied energy is the sum of all the energy required to produce any consumer goods or services. How much embodied energy is hidden in our day-to-day lives?
Embodied energy is the energy that is consumed in order to build a given usable object. This includes the energy from material extraction, refining (Verfeinerung), processing, transporting and fabricating. It is named as such because it is as if this energy is "embodied" within the item itself. Embodied energy also comes along with idea of embodied carbon, which is the associated (zugehörig) CO2 footprint that is emitted (ausstossen) during the objects creation.
Embodied energy is found within all types of objects, including things like cell phones, appliances (Haushaltsgeräte), homes, buildings and furniture. The embodied energy of a given object can be analyzed by knowing what materials are contained within an object, and how much of that given material there is. The amount of energy needed to produce a certain material such as aluminum, steel or concrete (Beton) is known and can be used to calculate the embodied energy within an item.
Examples of embodied energy:
Video about embodied energy:
Embodied Energy - What's that?
Our Audio Pitch:
Soil.m4a (549,72 kb)
Picture and Text Sources:
Embodied Energy 1 [energyeducation.ca]
Embodied Energy 2 [nxtgenhouses.com]
Authors:
Anabel & Sandrine
