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Embodied Energy and Historic Preservation: a Needed Reassessment (PERGLHG(QHUJ\DQG+LVWRULF3UHVHUYDWLRQ$1HHGHG5HDVVHVVPHQW $XWKRU V 0LNH-DFNVRQ 6RXUFH$37%XOOHWLQ9RO1R SS 3XEOLVKHGE\Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) 6WDEOH85/http://www.jstor.org/stable/40003163 . $FFHVVHG Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aptech. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to APT Bulletin. http://www.jstor.org Embodied Energy and Historic Preservation: A Needed Reassessment MIKE JACKSON If more widely and comprehensively Introduction was made to evaluatesome typical assessment buildingassemblies. One of the most used, embodied-energy The benefitsof reusinghistoric and ex- useful aspects of the reportis a can be a boon to preservation and isting buildingsversus those of con- summary of the values structingnew buildingsare typical embodied-energy sustainability advocates alike. frequently for various in discussedin terms of economic, cul- buildingtypes, presented ft. This data can be tural, and design values. If those discus- MBtu/sq. (Table1). used to estimatethe overallem- sions are expandedto include environ- quickly bodied of a mental impact, one must also address energy typical buildingby based 1967 construction the topic of embodiedenergy. Embod- use, upon ied energyis the sum of all the energy types. There are a few caveatsfor requiredto extract, process, deliver,and using this install the materialsneeded to construct informationto comparethe embodied a building.Embodied energy has re- energyof historicbuildings to new ones, ceived some attention in the green-de- however.First, there is a stronglikeli- sign communitybut not nearly as much hood that the overall buildingfigures in as operating-energyreduction. the reportunderestimate the equivalent It is importantto take a look at embodiedenergy of older buildings. previousefforts to use embodiedenergy This underestimationstems from two as another basis for preservation.Pres- principalfactors: older buildingsoften ervationistswill also benefitfrom ex- had more volume and greateramounts ploring how embodiedenergy calcula- tions could be used as a more quan- titative method of measuringthe overall Table 1. Embodied energy for new environmentalbenefits of buildingreno- construction by building type vation versus new construction. New Building Construction Btu/sq. ft. 1967 Input/Output 399 Level Energy Use in Building Construction Residential- 1 family 702,047 Residential- 2-4 The underlyingresearch upon which family 625,050 Residential- Gardenapt 648,445 almost all U.S. embodied-energyappli- Residential- High rise 735,978 cations are based is the 1976 report Residential- Alter and addn. entitledEnergy Use for BuildingCon- Hotel/Motel 1,128,655 struction.This effort is still Dormitories 1,430,724 pioneering Industrialbuildings 972,551 the most thoroughevaluation of the Office buildings 1,641,748 embodiedenergy of buildingmaterials Warehouses 558,432 to have been producedin the U.S. This Garages/Servicestations 771,489 materialwas for new build- Stores/Restaurants 941,353 developed Religious buildings 1,257,766 ings and was based upon construction- Educational 1 1,386,046 industrydata from 1967. The project Hospital buildings 1,722,200 was a collaborationbetween researchers Other non-farm buildings 1,449,216 a. social and rec. at the of Illinois at Urbana- Amusement, 1,379,793 University b. Misc. non-residentialbldg 1,101,991 Champaignand at RichardStein Associ- c. Laboratories 2,074,056 ates, Architects,of New York City. d. Libraries,museums, etc. 1,743,588 The researchers Farmresidences 554,703 investigatedmany, Farmservice 149,071 but not all, of the typical buildingmate- rials of that time. An additionaleffort Data from Energy Use for Building Construction. 47 48 APT BULLETIN: JOURNAL OF PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGY / 36:4, 2005 Table 2. Embodied energy of typical construction materials Embodied Embodied Embodied Embodied energy energy energy energy (Btu/unit)- (Btu/unit)- (Btu/unit)- (Btu/unit)- Material Unit Before After Material Unit before after deliveryto deliveryto deliveryto deliveryto jobsite jobsite jobsite jobsite Wood products Facing tile and ceramic Softwood Glazed brick Each 31,749 33,416 Rough lumber Board foot 5,229 7,661 Quarrytile Squarefoot 46,589 51,031 Dressed lumber Board foot 5,399 7,859 Ceramicmosaic tile, glazed Squarefoot 62,682 68,660 Hardwood Ceramicmosaic tile, unglazed Squarefoot 58,081 63,619 Rough lumber Board foot 6,744 9,816 Concreteblock (8 by 8 by 16 Each 29,108 31,821 Dressed lumber Board foot 6,633 9,655 inches) Wood shingles and shakes Squarefoot 4,682 7,315 Ready-mixconcrete Cubic yard 2,584,938 2,594,338 Wood window units Quicklime Ton 6,394,720 6,867,465 Double hung Each 845,671 1,127,234 Hydratedlime Ton 8,812,374 9,463,852 Awning and casement Each 893,021 1,190,349 Dead burneddolomite Ton 9,077,302 9,748,365 Other Each 1,373,150 1,830,335 Gypsum buildingmaterials Ton 6,189,370 6,970,088 Wood doors Panel type, interiorand exterior Each 654,851 872,881 Mineral-wool insulation Flush type, hollow core Each 259,952 346,502 Loose fiber Ton 11,426,830 12,826,171 Flush type, solid core Each 893,696 1,191,182 Batts, blankets, and rolls Veneerand plywood (3 Viinches thick) Squarefoot 6,112 6,860 Hardwood Squarefoot 12,942 17,025 Softwood, interior Squarefoot 3,790 4,986 Primaryiron and steel Softwood, exterior Squarefoot 4,393 5,779 Pig iron Pound 7,075 7,444 Prefabricatedstructural wood Carbon-steelsheet, hot rolled members and enameled Pound 15,965 16,803 Glued and laminated Board foot 14,673 16,773 Carbon-steelsheet, galvanized Pound 26,458 27,836 Hot-rolled bars and shapes Paperproducts Carbon-steel Pound 17,808 18,736 ConstructionPaper Pound 8,841 10,479 § Carbon-steelreinforcing bars Pound 14,888 15,664 Alloy steel, plates and structural Pound 25,577 26,910 Paint products shapes Exterioroil paints and enamels Gallon 413,066 488,528 Wire for prestressedconcrete Pound 42,423 44,633 Exteriorwater base paints Gallon 413,519 489,063 Carbon-steelnails and staples Pound 32,331 34,016 Interioroil base paints Gallon 429,932 508,475 Steel wire, plain Pound 29,635 31,179 Interiorwater base paints Gallon 369,519 437,025 Steel wire, galvanized Pound 32,683 34,385 Concrete-reinforcingmesh Pound 22,989 24,187 Asphalt products (welded wire) Roofing asphalt Pound 6,701 6,914 Carbon steel pipe Pound 24,535 25,813 Roll roofing, smooth surface Squarefoot 7,514 7,753 Stainless steel Roll roofing, mineralsurface Squarefoot 10,673 11,012 Sheets, hot rolled Pound 76,814 80,816 Standardstrip shingles Squarefoot 24,553 25,334 Sheets, cold rolled Pound 131,449 138,298 Asphalt-saturatedfelts Pound 13,210 13,630 Bars, hot rolled Pound 25,577 26,910 Tar-saturatedfelts Pound 16,416 16,938 Bars, cold finished Pound 183,579 193,144 Wire Pound 228,046 239,927 Glass products Window glass, single strength Squarefoot 11,895 13,659 Fabricatedmetal products Window glass, double strength Squarefoot 13,437 15,430 Fabricatedstructural steel Pound 21,711 22,707 Plate glass, average (Yuinch) Squarefoot 41,828 48,031 Laminatedplate, average Squarefoot 185,058 212,504 Primarynonferrous metals Aluminum Stone and clay products Plate Pound 113,049 115,567 Portlandcement Barrel 1,526,498 1,528,126 Sheet Pound 94,596 95,943 Brick {2%by 7%inches) Rolled barsand structuralshapes Pound 90,852 92,146 Common and face Each 13,570 14,283 Other unglazed Each 24,306 25,582 Screw machine products Hex nuts, lag screws, and bolts, Pound 22,474 26,625 studs, and threadedrods Rivets, Viinch and over Pound 14,640 17,344 Data from Energy Use for BuildingConstruction. of materials.On the volume side of the brickveneer, metal-bar joists, and con- Anotherconcern with using data equation,older buildingsoften had crete floor slabs. A typical school from from 1967 is the potentialchange in the higherceilings than those of the mid- 1910 was a multistorystructure with individualbuilding-material values twentiethcentury. On the materialsside masonryload-bearing walls, terra-cotta based upon newer,more efficientindus- of the equation,older buildingsused tile floors, and wood roof framing.This trial processes.Both the steel and con- more massivemasonry load-bearing same type of discrepancywill hold true crete industrieshave improvedmanufac- walls ratherthan later masonry-veneer for many older buildingtypes. No at- turingefficiencies, which reducesthe construction.For example, a typical tempt was made to calculatethe embod- overallembodied
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