ABSTRACT
Global climate change is attributed in large measure to emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases from the burning of fossil fuels, something that increased exponentially with the Industrial Revolution. Building preservation or conservation saves energy by taking advantage of the non-recoverable energy embodied in a building, and extending the use of it. Simply put, building materials contain the 'embodied energy' already invested into them. Embodied energy means the sum of all the energy that was used to build a structure fuel, materials and human resources. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) examines the total environmental impact of a material or product through every step of its life, from obtaining raw materials all the way through manufacture, transportation, use in the home and disposal or recycling. In the US the use or re-use of a building is rewarded by credits through Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design (LEED), but some argue that these do not give enough weight to re-use.
