Paying Back Energy

Description | Indicators | Scoring Criteria | Definitions | Issues

British Thermal Unit (BTU): a unit of energy measurement. (1 KWh = 3,414 BTUs)

Cradle-to-gate: Life cycle term describing the entire process of the production of the product from extraction or harvesting of the raw materials (the cradle) through all intermediate processing, refinement, and fabrication processes to the final completion of manufacture of the final product ready for sale (the factory gate). If the product utilizes recycled content, the extraction phase should be considered to begin at the "harvesting" of the recyclate - that is at the point of diversion of the material to be recycled from the waste stream.

Embodied Energy: represents the net energy consumed or produced during the extraction/ harvesting of the raw materials, their processing, and the manufacture of the product. Embodied energy includes energy from electrical power, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas, fuel oil, heating oil, and renewable energy sources.

GigaJoule (GJ): A unit of energy measurement. 1 GJ equals 1000 MJ

MegaJoule (MJ): A unit of energy measurement. (1 MJ = 948 BTUs)

Product class: A group of products that perform a similar function, such as flooring, roofing, siding, or windows. Product classes may encompass multiple CSI section numbers.

Product class benchmark: Each of the categories in the Pharos system depend for scoring upon a quantified material flow indicator (such as embodied water, embodied energy, or climate change gas emissions), usually derived from life cycle inventory (LCI) data, or directly from manufacturer supplied input. Scoring in these categories is determined based upon how the specific product performs relative to the established benchmark value for its product class for that material flow. The benchmark value used for that product class will be determined by Pharos staff. The average, range, and quality of data of products in the Pharos database, along with the quantity and diversity of those products are factors that will be considered during establishment of the product class benchmark. Published industry values will also be considered. The methodology for establishing the benchmark, along with all relevant values used during the establishment of the benchmark value for the product class will be listed on the Pharos website.

Unit: The unit is the physical amount of the product that is being compared, such as one square foot of flooring or one foot length of pipe. For each product class, a standard "unit" is established.

Comments