Affordable construction towards sustainable buildings: Review on embodied energy in building materials

Luisa F. Cabeza*, Camila Barreneche, Laia Miró, Mònica Martínez, A. Inés Fernández, Diana Urge-Vorsatz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview Articlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Affordable construction has identified low embodied energy in materials as key issue. This review paper shows that even though there is a lack of research on this topic, embodied energy and carbon are studied in the context of buildings and construction materials. Moreover, comparison between studies is not possible due to the different assumptions used by the researchers, due to the fact that most studies are focused in a given location, and also due to the great variation between data presented in the embodied energy databases available. This paper shows different studies published in scientific journal papers and carried out around the world on the accounting of embodied energy in building materials. The paper includes the boundary of each of this study, including the location, type of material or building studied, and the conclusions found. Moreover, the paper discusses the definition of embodied energy and the significance of this concept in buildings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)229-236
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
Volume5
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2013

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