Embodied Energy
New Tricks With Old Bricks: How reusing old buildings can cut carbon emissions
In 2008, EHA published this report which describes groundbreaking research into the combined embodied (built-in) and operational (in-use) carbon emissions from refurbished compared with new build houses. Using the University of Bath’s Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE), it shows that embodied energy is a much larger part of the lifetime carbon cost of housing than has been widely supposed. It also suggests that, even over 30-50 years, refurbishment is at least as good if not better than new build in terms of CO2 emissions. Published with the support of the BSHF
