Embodied Inventory of carbon and energy ICE

The AMEE category for /embodied/ice contains data on the CO₂ emitted during resource extraction, manufacturing and transportation of a range of building and construction materials (e.g. aluminium, cement, glass, plastics, stone, timber). These data are sourced from the Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE; v. 1.6a) compiled by the Sustainable Energy Research Team (SERT) at the University of Bath.

The 'boundaries' represented by each embodied CO₂ factor are described in AMEE as follows;

• "Cradle to grave" - embodied CO₂ from entire life cycle of material
• "Cradle to gate" - embodied CO₂ from resource extraction to factory gate
• "Cradle to site" - embodied CO₂ from resource extraction to final point of use (e.g. building site)

To use this category, use drill-downs to specify the material, type and subtype and enter the quantity used using the mass profile item. For reinforced concrete, see the 'concrete' subcategory.

Technical notes:

1. Several embodied CO₂ factors presented in ICE are specified as a range of values. In such cases, AMEE provides the option of choosing minimum or maximum values.
2. Data for polystyrene- and polyethylene-based insulation materials are referenced from the 'plastics' category in ICE.
3. ICE contains many materials for which only embodied energy is specified. Only materials which include either (a) an explicit embodied CO₂ factor, or (b) an embodied energy factor plus the associated energy fuel split (from which embodied CO₂ can be derived) are included within AMEE. The latter method was used to derive embodied CO₂ factors for clay/limestone bricks and wood-wool reinforced concrete.