| EMBODIED ENERGY |
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The term ‘embodied energy’ refers to the energy required to extract, manufacture, transport, install, and dispose of building materials. Efforts to reduce this energy use and associated emissions (e.g. through manufacturing energy intensity reductions) can be made as part of a larger effort to reduce emissions from buildings. Embodied energy is part of the life cycle assessment (LCA) used in whole-building LCA; it is reported by materials with an environmental product declaration (EPD) and may be specified consideration. |
Building technologies and trends
Given these various initiatives, standards, requirements, and aspirations, how can buildings be better designed to meet energy efficiency goals? After site orientation, one of the most important steps in creating a high-performance, low-carbon building involves the right-sizing of energy conservation measures (EMCs) such as lighting, building controls, and equipment with renewables or green power purchasing offsets. However, there is also another important factor—envelope design.
This author participated in the Paris COP21 sidebar session, “A Key to Energizing Efficient, Productive, and Smart Cities and Grids.” The talk turned to deep energy retrofits, including exterior recladding. Other business and policy panelists discussed unlocking emissions reductions and increasing energy productivity through energy-efficient and smart technologies in our cities and electricity grids. The important message was how these solutions together will deliver:
- more efficient consumption of energy by the building;
- deeper penetration of renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar;
- wider deployment of ‘distributed’ energy resources, such as micro grids, rooftop solar, and other onsite power supplies; and
- storage to reduce GHGs.
Innovations and technologies to deliver energy efficiency are discussed in the paragraphs that follow.
Heat mapping
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have streamlined the process of heat mapping, allowing for scans of large groups of buildings, or even entire cities. The process uses a vehicle with automated cameras that take thermal infrared images of every building as it moves along—similar to the way Google Street View cars obtain visual imagery. Thermal imaging of more than 17,000 buildings in MIT’s Cambridge were scanned using an imaging rig. Heat mapping offers utilities a scalable and cost-effective means to gather superior intelligence around the building stock across the entire territory.
Drones and FLIR thermal imaging
The ASTM task group on façade inspections introduced E3036, Guide for Notating Façade Conditions in the Field, and the proposed WK52572, Guide for Visual Inspection of Building Facades Using Drones, to better building façade inspections.
Lasers in design and construction
Laser technology permits high-precision 3D measurement, imaging, and comparison of parts and compound structures within production and quality assurance processes. The devices are used for inspecting components and assemblies, production planning, documenting large volume spaces or structures in 3D, and improving efficiencies and processes.
