Building Strategies

Material Selection and Embodied Energy

Although operating energy is the majority of energy consumed by buildings, the embodied energy of the materials that compose buildings is an important consideration to homeowners. Embodied energy is the energy used in production and distribution of a product or material. Presently the embodied energy of building materials contributes anywhere from 15 to 20% of the energy used by a building over a 50 year period. Homeowners have tremendous influence as to what material are used and can specify those materials with low embodied energy, thus reducing the amount of fossil-fuel energy used during production. Also, as the operating energy is reduced through efficient design and technology, embodied energy will become more and more important in reducing a building’s carbon footprint. See canadianarchitect for more information on embodied energy.



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