Total Energy Costs of Building Construction and Operation

The energy consumed during the construction of a building is quite significant when compared with the annual energy required for its operation. This study has been confined to the extent of energy cost accounting for material fabrication in building construction. Six main building component systems were recognized in this study: structural, exterior wall, interior wall, roof, floor, and window/glass. In order to put the methodology developed here into a useful perspective, it was applied to a prototypical building, first to determine the energy costs of material fabrication and second to predict the operating energy costs of the building. The final energy cost bears heavily on the kind of exterior walls, roofs, or interior wall systems used. The results indicate that the energy costs of the example building can range from 119 500 to 721 300 MJ or from 18.4 to 110.9 barrels of oil.