Furthermore, the energy embodied in natural fibers came from the sun, which is the most plentiful and renewable source of energy available to us. Old growth trees have higher embodied energy, since they took many years of sunlight to grow. Locally produced materials have lower embodied energies because they were not shipped great distances across the country or across the world. There are several ways to conserve the embodied energy of building materials. The first is through building material re-use.
Many items are durable, especially doors, windows, fixtures and lumber.
These items can be removed from old buildings and built into new ones instead of being landfilled. The ReUse Center in Ann Arbor accepts and resells used and surplus building materials so that they are not wasted. Similar operations exist throughout the nation. Another way to conserve embodied energy is to manufacture and use building materials from recycled materials. For example, manufacturing new steel or aluminum from recycled sources dramatically decreases the energy used.