But how should we choose the best materials? Should we focus on renewable, recycled, low-maintenance, local, or a combination of all of these attributes? Embodied energy takes into account the total energy used throughout a material’s lifecycle—not only the energy used to extract the raw material, but also the energy used for the transportation involved along the production chain, processing and manufacturing, construction, and maintenance over the years, as well as disposal and recycling. The full path is often called “Cradle to Grave.”
It can be complicated. While the embodied energy of one recycled product might look promising, when you consider that material might travel from a factory in China to a construction site in the U.S, the embodied energy literally becomes a moving target. In an effort to disentangle these complex issues, we at Hays Ewing initiated a materials mapping project, called SpecLocal.
We decided to initially focus on mapping bio-based materials in the United States. Bio-composites are either plant-derived fibers, or crop-derived plastics. Our idea was to build a database of bio-based construction materials that will eventually be available to the construction industry. The goal is to increase the market accessibility of locally extracted and produced materials, while helping to expand manufacturing jobs in rural America. An embodied energy calculator will also be incorporated in the database to assist the user in determining the energy inputs for transportation.
This is how we anticipate SpecLocal working: Say an architect is exploring rigid board insulation options. Rigid board is typically a petroleum-based product—not preferable. What are the bio-based options? The SpecLocal search would come up with a mushroom-based insulation made by Ecovative (currently in the testing phase). Using a patented technology, this bio-based material converts agricultural waste such as corn stalks and cotton burrs into a variety of products such as acoustic panels, insulation, packing material—all of which are low-cost, renewable, and low in embodied energy. The transport calculator would then assist the architect in determining whether the material is a preferable alternative to conventional rigid board if it would need to travel from Green Island, N.Y., to Greenville, Texas.
Others are also at work on bio-based material mapping and cataloging efforts. A bio-preferred program was established in the Farm Security Acts of 2002 and 2008, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture hasestablished the USDA Certified Biobased Product label. Currently there are 900 products certified. It’s our goal that our database would include both certified and non-certified products. We are currently seeking grant funding to carry the project forward and anticipate completion of the database in 2014.