Embrace embodied energy with your green designs:
By designing and constructing more sustainable buildings, it is important to first recognize that these structures are absolutely LOADED with embodied energy. What's that, you ask?
Embodied energy is the energy cost it took to remove something from nature, transport it wherever it goes, manufacture it, and install it.
- From the trees that were harvested to make up the structure, to all the natural resources and manmade components that provide infrastructure, furniture, fixtures, and equipment. All the materials that go into the construction of a building have embodied energy in them, and we should be finding ways to incorporate them whenever possible and practical.
Each material is extracted, shipped, manufactured, shipped again, and eventually ends up on a job site where it was assembled.
When demolishing an old structure to make way for the new, we lose some of that embodied energy instantly - that which was associated with the building's original purpose and the energy it took to create and transport the materials.
In addition, there's human energy involved.
So, how do we incorporate embodied energy into our future designs?
1. Redisribute
That's right - let's have others reuse the materials that are loaded with embodied energy.
As an example, Carlson Studio is advocating for a position of redistributing embodied energy for a house being built in Birch Haven.
Redistribution is a relatively easy and effective goal to realize. Whether a building is in need of remodeling or demolition in order to be re-built with up-to-date technologies and materials, much of the embodied energy CAN be salvaged, even repurposed. There is still value in the materials no matter what their age or condition.
There were also items in the home, such as appliances, fixtures, furnishing, and clothing that found new lives in the salvage effort. Even the aluminum siding made its way to the redistribution pile and was installed on another house.
2. reclaim
The Birch Haven home is replacing a 60-year-old lakefront cottage that was constructed using knotty cedar planks that are no longer available except through salvage. Not only did the homeowners and CSA have a strong desire to re-use these gorgeous, native, resilient materials in the new home for posterity’s sake, they were carefully extracted in the demolition process so as much of the material as possible could be saved, salvaged, and included in the new construction.
The building is on track to receive the highest possible form of certification for sustainability from USGBC- LEED for Home Platinum level. Therefore the waste generated by the project – regardless if it is from new construction materials or existing materials – have been thoughtfully and purposefully kept to an absolute minimum, reducing space in the landfills and trash hauling expenses.
Buildings like this are a living testament that finding new life from structures that are past their useful lifespans is not only possible, but can also be profitable. In addition to the salvaged wood being able to carry forth its embodied energy into the new residence for the next 100+ years, it will provide a Biophilic presence of the natural material of wood into the interior of the home at almost no cost. And on an emotional level, the ghost of the prior home will live on and have a constant visible reminder of what stood on the site before 2015.
CONCLUSION:
Given the combination of salvage, re-use, embodied energy savings, Biophilic design, and emotional connection to the past, this design solution was a winner in so many ways.
Interested in learning more about embodied energy and how it could impact your green design? Set up a free consultation today!
