ABSTRACT

Over recent years there has been a growing appreciation of the need to use materials with as little embodied energy as possible. This includes energy used not only in extraction and manufacture but also the energy needed to transport materials to their point of use, a factor that favours the more local sourcing of materials. Issues of energy use over the life cycle of a building are also increasingly considered at the point of design including the fundamental questions of ‘what type of building will it be?’ and following on from that ‘what materials will it be made of?’ At the early design stage you may ask yourself questions like:

• Will it be a heavyweight building with high levels of thermal mass that can store free energy and shift temperature peaks, so lowering heating and cooling costs for a building?