Embodied energy is the amount of energy required to produce a particular item or material and make it available for use. Highly processed materials such as stainless steel, glass, and concrete take a lot of energy to produce when all manufacturing processes, mining and transportation are considered. Materials such as timber and its products, rammed earth, cob, adobe, mud brick, clay render, strawbale, or generally speaking: anything that comes directly from plants or the earth have very low levels of embodied energy.
We have been very fortunate that since the discovery of coal and the industrial revolution we’ve had very high returns on the energy we’ve invested, and this has enabled us to develop some extraordinary technologies, but it has also led us to rely heavily upon highly processed materials and products. As our supplies of the energy and materials that we need for these products are not endless, they will become harder and harder to obtain, and the products will become even more expensive until it becomes no longer economical to use or make them.
At Urban Farm and House we place an emphasis on providing cost-effective and ethical material recommendations to our clients, and hope that you will take on some of the responsibility of building a sustainable future by selecting renewable materials, such as timber or strawbale whenever you can.
