Energy and environmental impacts of materials alternatives: An assessment of quantitative understanding

Abstract The literature was reviewed to determine which materials may require the least energy for manufacture and use, which may have the least detrimental effect on the environment, and what effect recycling may have on both factors. There is substantial agreement as to the benefits of recycling on environmental quality and conservation, although, there are some important variations in the attempts to quantify the benefits. There is less agreement as to the relative energy consumption and effect on the environment of using materials. This is due chiefly to the substantial number of variables that enter into the evaluations as well as the difficulty in weighting their relative effects. The development of environmental profile analysis — in which subimpacts are weighted before being combined into aggregate impact measurements — appears to be a promising approach to making the analysis of energy and environmental factors more meaningful.