It's easy to get caught out in thinking about energy and global warming because we can forget embodied energy which this article defines helpfully ... "Housebuilding itself produces huge amounts. The way to understand this is through a concept called embodied energy. Each component of a house has caused energy to be consumed in order to get it there. Most energy is consumed in production and transport. So natural materials like timber and stone will have low embodied energy. Other materials like bricks require large amounts of energy through the extracting and firing of clay. Transportation energy costs vary according to how heavy the material is and how far it's come. So stone imported from China will have caused more energy to be consumed than stone bought from a local quarry."
Which is why demolishing a lot of houses may not be the best way to go in combatting global warming ...
SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society Environment | The green house effect:
"Spend and tax" not "tax and spend"
I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...
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"'Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell yo...
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from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/online/2012/5/22/1337672561216/Annular-solar-eclipse--008.jpg -
I'm not sure people have believed me when I've said that there have been discovered uncaffeinated coffee beans. Well, here's one...
1 comment:
Concrete is one of the worst offenders in terms of embedded energy (and therefore CO2 emissions).
Designing a house to use minimal foundations can massively reduce the amount of concrete used.
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