Embodied energy: Mobile devices and cars [Numbers Don't Lie

Abstract

STATISTICS ON THE PRODUCTION OF ENERGY are fairly reliable; accurate statistics on the consumption of energy by major sectors are harder to come by; and data on the energy consumed in the production of specific goods are even less reliable. Such energy embodied in products is part of the environmental price we pay for everything we own and use. The estimation of the embodied energy of finished goods relies not only on indisputable facts–so much steel in a car, so many microchips in a computer–but also on the inevitable simplifications and assumptions that must be made to derive overall rates. Which model of car? Which computer or phone? The challenge is to select reasonable, representative rates; the reward is to get a new perspective on the man-made world.