Chapter 07 · Materials & footprintsLife Cycle Assessment & Product Footprinting
Cumulative energy demand (CED)
Definition
Cumulative energy demand is a life-cycle assessment indicator that sums all primary energy — renewable and non-renewable — extracted and consumed across a product system, from raw-material acquisition through production, use and end of life. Because energy use correlates with many other impacts, CED is frequently applied as a screening proxy for greenhouse gas emissions and broader environmental load, though no single harmonised accounting approach exists across methods.
References
definition across life cycle
use as proxy indicator
methodological variance
Overview
What it means
A one-number energy footprint of a product's life cycle, exposing hidden upstream energy even where emissions data are incomplete.
How it is used
Practitioners report CED in LCA studies, product comparisons and environmental product declarations, and use it to identify energy hotspots in supply chains.
Why it matters
Energy demand underlies climate and resource depletion impacts; CED offers a transparent, physically grounded indicator that predates carbon-only footprinting.