Life-cycle operational and embodied energy for a generic single-storey office building in the UK

Increasing energy efficiency makes embodied energy considerations increasingly significant. The energy initially embodied in a building could be as much as 67% of its operating energy over a 25-year period. If additional embodied energy gained over the building life is also included, the total life-cycle energy could be larger than the operating energy over the same period. Currently, embodied energy cannot be predicted accurately due to lack of reliable and accurate data; there is a wide variation in the data available. The variation of life-cycle operational and embodied energy and capital cost as a function of building parameters is explored.