Low Embodied Energy Materials

The production and cartage of materials uses considerable energy. Minerals are mined from the ground with high explosives and large equipment and timber is cut from forests and carted to sawmills by large logging trucks. The processing and cartage of materials creates greenhouse gases by burning fossel fuels. High embodied energy materials include steel, aluminium, bricks, glass and plastics.

Low embodied energy materials, on the other hand, are sourced from or near the building site and used directly in the building. Examples of materials with low embodied energies are rock for walls and paths, earth for mud bricks or pise formed earth walls, earth for domed and vaulted roofs, timber cut from the site and milled on site, render made from site sand or earth, shingles for roofs cut from neighbouring forests,  and thatch made from local grasses and timbers.