How does the Embodied Energy of PVC pipes compare to metal pipes?
Embodied energy analysis quantifies the amount of energy used to manufacture a product. This involves the assessment of the overall expenditure of energy required to extract the raw material and manufacture it into a product. In terms of Embodied Energy PVC pipe products perform significantly better than competitive metallic pipe systems (based on independent CSIRO research (5)). This advantage is often more than a factor of 2 in favour of PVC products – particularly the PVC-O pipe products. Read a summary of the report at Plastics Pipe Systems Good for the Environment or study the full report by downloading it in PDF format (227 Kb) Piping Systems Embodied Energy Analysis. (5) M.D Ambrose, D.D Salomonsson, S. Burn, “Piping Systems Embodied Energy Analysis” CSIRO 2002.
