Embodied Energy as an Indicator for Environmental Impacts – A Case Study for Fire Sprinkler Systems

This paper appraises the utility of embodied energy as an indicator of environmental impact through the use of life cycle assessment (LCA). This utility is considered in terms of its use for the preferential selection of materials and for hotspot analysis for the purposes of identifying reduction opportunities. An appraisal of the peer-reviewed LCA of BlazeMaster® CPVC fire sprinkler system and subsequent LCA work commissioned by the Lubrizol Corporation is conducted to investigate the utility of embodied energy as an environmental indicator. Embodied energy is assessed using the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) method and environmental impacts are appraised using the ReCiPe method. Embodied energy is found to reflect the impact results in terms of preference for CPVC when compared to steel sprinkler systems. However, the inability of CED to identify hotspots consistently, or to provide a reliable measure of relative performance for individual environmental impacts, indicates limited utility.