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Initiatives

Embodied Energy

The Embodied Energy Project aims to uncover key questions, issues, and opportunities for architectural design in the context of embodied energy.

Awareness of embodied energy within the architecture, engineering, and construction industry is increasing, but the term is often not completely understood. In addition, levels of embodied energy are often difficult to calculate based on lack of comprehensive data and on a few different definitions of what is included in the calculation. This project outlines some of the details involved in defining embodied energy.

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David Benjamin

Embodied Energy at 45 West 53 Street

In conjunction with the exhibition Energy, The Museum of Modern Art commissioned The Embodied Energy Pilot Project at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation to create a series of visualizations about embodied energy—what it is and how it relates to the Museum’s new building.

Energy, organized by Paola Antonelli and Anna Burckhardt, opened at the Museum of Modern Art in October 2019. Research and visualizations were realized by GSAPP students in the Fall 2019 seminar “Footprint: Carbon and Design” led by David Benjamin, and by The Living.

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Recent News

Apr 4

STIR features conversation with faculty David Benjamin on his studio’s Kinne trip to New Delhi, architecture as a living practice, and bio-fabrication

Mar 8

Faculty David Benjamin delivers the keynote address about a circular bio-economy for the crQlr Summit at FabCafe in Tokyo

Mar 4

Faculty Laura Kurgan, David Benjamin, and Catherine Griffiths participated in “AI and Creativity,” panel at the Columbia AI Summit

Jan 31

Faculty David Benjamin presents “Scaling Up” as part of the Hearst Lecture Series at Cal Poly College of Architecture and Urban Design

Nov 25, 2024

Faculty David Benjamin serves as Guest of Honor and delivers keynote lecture at Ikigai event in Kashmir, India

Aug 23, 2024

Faculty David Benjamin lectures about “Resources” for the 16th Alvar Aalto Symposium entitled “The Weight of Architecture” in Helsinki

Apr 10, 2024

Faculty David Benjamin presents “Scaling Up Bio-Materials” in Penn seminar “Designing with Risk” taught by Matthijs Bouw

Jan 27, 2023

Associate Professor David Benjamin and sustainability projects by The Living are featured in David Byrne’s "Reasons to Be Cheerful"

Nov 7, 2022

Associate Professor David Benjamin '05 M.Arch delivers Harwell Hamilton Harris Lecture at North Carolina State School of Architecture

Oct 12, 2022

Associate Professor David Benjamin '05 M.Arch presents keynote at Speculative Design and Technology Symposium in Tokyo

Embodied Energy

Embodied energy in building materials has been studied for the past several decades by researchers interested in the relationship between building materials, construction processes, and their environmental impacts. There are two forms of embodied energy in buildings:

The initial embodied energy in buildings represents the non-renewable energy consumed in the acquisition of raw materials, their processing, manufacturing, transportation to site, and construction. This initial embodied energy has two components. Direct energy—the energy used to transport building products to the site, and then to construct the building; and indirect energy—the energy used to acquire, process, manufacture and transport the building materials.
The recurring embodied energy in buildings represents the non-renewable energy consumed to maintain, repair, restore, refurbish or replace materials, components or systems during the life of the building.

OPERATIONAL ENERGY

Operating energy is a significant measure of sustainability which enables straightforward comparisons between alternative building technologies. Buildings consume energy for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, equipment and appliances. Passive energy systems rely on the building enclosure to take advantage of natural energy sources. Active energy systems represent mechanical, electrical or chemical processes. Occupants of buildings can also contribute to the heating of buildings by virtue of the heat produced through metabolic processes.

Research Questions

How can we design a tool that is relevant to all kinds of cultures and climates?

Where lies the biggest potential to reduce embodied energy in the construction industry in the United States?

How do we we evaluate recycled content versus non-recycled content in terms of embodied energy?

How can we effectively communicate visually the complexities of the issue of embodied energy without over-simplifying?

Can cultural practices have quantitative values comparable to quantitative values of embodied energy?

Embodied Energy

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