Sustainability

The Composites: Calculating their Embodied Energy Study undertaken by the Life Cycle Engineering & Management Research Group at the University of New South Wales in 2009 for the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation concluded:

“A number of key findings are provided to highlight the embodied energy and environmental benefits provided by the composite products over equivalent products made from traditional materials. These include:

A significant number of the fibre composite products contain a lower embodied energy and produce a lower environmental impact than the comparable product/s made from traditional materials. This is particularly evident during the materials stage.

The fibre composite products exhibited favourable properties such as high-strength, low-weight and corrosion-resistance over their traditional material counterparts, resulting in embodied energy and environmental impact savings. For example because the composite products are lighter, require less maintenance and do not need to be replaced as often, fuel consumption for transportation and maintenance activities can be reduced.”