In this class, many case studies have been done to provide insights about the relationship between materials and energy efficiency. Our calculations have shown, for example, that using electricity-powered hand driers in the restroom takes less energy than using disposable paper, while both options are much better than reusable cotton towels, which need to be cleaned and dried after every usage. However, the use of paper towels produces much lower CO2 emissions than the other two options. The precision of our calculations is subject to certain parameters, such as the energy required to dry the cotton towels, however, tests of the sensivity of the results to the chosen parameters were conducted, and our conclusions were found to be valid. We have listed our results here ( Acrobat Reader is required to open these files).
Comparison of different coffee cups
Comparison of different commuting methods
Comparison of different hand drying methods
Comparison of different roofing materials
Comparison of different shopping bags
