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Everything we buy contains (embodied) energy
Everything we consume involves energy. What is especially relevant to the climate in many cases, is not the energy consumed during use of the goods, but rather the so-called "embodied energy".
Many products hardly use any energy during their operation or application. For example, someone reading a newspaper hardly causes any relevant greenhouse gas emissions, and the same applies to the use of office equipment, or eating an apple. Greenhouse gases are, however, caused by upstream and downstream processes (e.g. production, transport, and waste disposal). Such energy usage – invisible to consumers - is called "embodied energy".
This "embodied energy" of consumption contains significant greenhouse gas emissions, being around one third of total Swiss emissions. Imported goods also contribute a significant amount to the total. Overall, Switzerland imports greenhouse gas emissions amounting to 68 million tons of CO2 equivalents via imported goods.
Embodied energy in everyday items
- The life-cycle of products.
In order to assess the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions during the life-cycle of a product, the aim is a so-called life cycle assessment. These assessments show that the greatest potential for energy savings often lies in the production and disposal phases. Here, the energy sources which are used in production, the amount and type of raw materials, the quality and thereby the life-span of the product are crucial.
To date a comprehensive life-cycle assessment has only been recorded for a few products. A study by the Federal Office for the Environment estimates how much embodied energy is hidden in some everyday items. A particularly large amount of embodied energy is hidden in our clothing.
- Embodied energy of various everyday goods, per person, per year.
Source: BAFU 2006a, EMPA 2001, IPTS 2006
From 100 grams of crude oil it is possible, from a chemical point of view, to produce a mobile phone, as mobile phones are primarily made of plastic which is obtained from crude oil. For the whole production process, however, three times as much crude oil is required, namely 306 grams.
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