Don't underestimate embodied energy

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

One of the most respected firms of quantity surveyors in the globe, Davis Langdon, appear to be doing some valuable work on embodied energy. A piece in the firm's Digging Beneath the Greenwash supplement in Building (pages 12 and 13) gives an indication of the fruits of six months research: "early assessments suggest that embodied energy and associated CO2 equates to between eight and 15 years of operational energy" says partner John Connaughton in the article.

He adds that taking into account the fact that about half of operational energy is not building-related (appliances and equipment etc) leads to an even more disturbing figure - embodied energy actually accounts for "between 15 and 30 years of building-related operational energy". As a result of that Connaughton argues that "it is quite possible for the embodied energy and associated CO2 of these buildings to exceed the operational energy over the entire lifecycle".

Clearly Connaughton's analysis is highly significant, not least in the current discussion over the efficacy or otherwise of renewable technologies. His firm is introducing carbon ratings to identify which building elements carry the highest carbon costs to help unpick the problem. "We believe it is a vitally important piece of the sustainability jigsaw that has until now been missing," he writes.