Economic implications of the energy issue: Evidence for a positive non-linear relation between embodied energy and construction cost

Here we show that the EE level of several materials is already summarized by well-known and widely available parameters, namely their production costs or market prices. The ability to explain the EE level, through market data arising from production processes, sharply increases by dividing the building materials into clusters, according to their reference industry. The results show a logarithmic relation between EE and cost. Once the EE exceeds a certain threshold the cost increases more than proportionally. Therefore, the will to make rational consumption and production decisions entails the need to consider the energy-to-cost ratio.