Counting Calories | 2020
What would it take to construct a functional wooden chair using the least amount of energy I could manage?
In the fall of 2020 I set myself a simple goal. Make a simple yet functional wooden chair with the lowest embodied energy possible.
I first had to ask some questions and lay out some ground rules.
What is functional?
To claim the word function as a trope would be an understatement, however, for the sake of this exercise, my pondering over it was truly foundational. While a tree stump may function as a seat, I would argue it does not function as a chair. So that settled it. The key function of a chair beyond a seat, is its ability to easily be handled...so a functional wooden chair would have to be an assembly, so as to be of a manageable weight.
And what did I mean by energy?
When calculating energy we tend to ignore that of our own. I was set to include the energy I myself spent, and leverage the fact that we as machines, are actually rather efficient.
energy (n): power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat, or to work machines
My unit would be Calories.
A lower ‘c’ calorie, is the amount of energy required to raise one gram of 14.5°C water by 1°C at a pressure of one atm. The capital ‘C’ Calorie, or kilocalorie, is 1,000 calories, and is what we in the United States use to measure the amount of energy in our food.
Though not common practice, (the joule being the standard unit of energy most widely used, with the kwh being the one you see on your energy bill) all energy can be measured in Calories.
As a quick comparison, I tend to consume and “burn” roughly 2,500 Calories a day. A gallon of gasoline contains roughly 31,000 Calories. A three horsepower tablesaw uses just over 1,900 calories per hour.
Lastly, how and when would I begin measuring?
Where does a project begin? I begrudgingly decided the energy used in the creation of the tools I would use could not practically, and therefore would not be calculated. I would begin calculating, when I began actually making the chair. Starting with the acquisition of its material. I was to use an Apple Watch as my means of measurement and tracking, well aware of its weaknesses. (And the irony of using such a modern contraption to help make a chair under my own power.) However the intent of the project would not rely on high accuracy, but general comparison.
