Embodied energy

Part of a series on
Ecological economics
Humanity's economic system viewed as a subsystem of the global environment
Concepts Carbon fee and dividend Carrying capacity Ecological market failure Ecological model of competition Ecosystem services Embodied energy Energy accounting Entropy pessimism Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare Natural capital Spaceship Earth Steady-state economy Sustainability, 'weak' vs 'strong' Uneconomic growth
People Serhiy Podolynsky Frederick Soddy Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Kenneth E. Boulding E. F. Schumacher Robert Ayres Herman Daly Joan Martinez Alier Richard B. Norgaard Robert Costanza Tim Jackson Clive Spash Organizations: International Society for Ecological Economics
Works Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt The Entropy Law and the Economic Process The Limits to Growth Small Is Beautiful Prosperity Without Growth Ecological Economics (journal)
Related topics Degrowth Eco-investing Eco-socialism Environmental economics Externality Green politics Planetary boundaries Post-growth Sustainable finance Thermodynamics Thermoeconomics
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Embodied energy is the sum of all the energy required to produce any goods or services, considered as if that energy were incorporated or 'embodied' in the product itself. The concept can be useful in determining the effectiveness of energy-producing or energy saving devices, or the "real" replacement cost of a building, and, because energy-inputs usually entail greenhouse gas emissions, in deciding whether a product contributes to or mitigates global warming. One fundamental purpose for measuring this quantity is to compare the amount of energy produced or saved by the product in question to the amount of energy consumed in producing it.

Embodied energy is an accounting method which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary for an entire product lifecycle. Determining what constitutes this lifecycle includes assessing the relevance and extent of energy into raw material extraction, transport, manufacture, assembly, installation, disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition as well as human and secondary resources.