Embodied energy is a term that often comes up when discussing the benefits of building with natural materials over synthetic, manufactured, or more conventional building components. It’s an important concept — embodied energy is “the sum of all the energy required to produce any goods or services, considered as if that energy was incorporated or ’embodied’ in the product itself.”
Attempting to actually calculate or understand the full implications of embodied energy is a mighty challenge, however, and honestly a bit befuddling, since it’s going to be completely different depending on your location. However, this table from The Natural Building Companion book is an excellent reference — not the end-all be-all of data necessarily, but an excellent case example comparing the differences in embodied energy between natural materials like straw, sand, and timber to concrete, paint, fiberglass insulation, and others.
