How house size impacts on the number of furniture, appliance and tool items (FATs) in a house: An embodied energy study of New Zealand houses

Abstract

Various sources show an increase in average house floor area in many developed countries including New Zealand. Obviously larger houses need more materials for their construction but there is little research on the contents of various sized houses. As part of a larger New Zealand study, an online survey of owner-occupiers from mid-February to mid-April 2015 asked about the type and number of furniture, appliance and tool items (FATs) along with the type and number of rooms in their houses. The embodied energy (EE) of FATs in each house was calculated using the input-output on the basis of cost method. The overall embodied energy for furnishing each house was then calculated and mapped with house size. The results showed the number of FATs in NZ houses is significantly different by house size but not by household size. This study also showed that together the embodied energy alone of small and large appliances makes up 51% of the total life cycle energy of FATs in a house in year 0, increasing to 59%, 60%, 62% and 62% after 25, 50, 75 and 100 years.