So, what is embodied energy anyway? Wikipedia calls this ” the commercial energy (fossil fuels, nuclear, etc) that was used in the work to make any product, bring it to market, and dispose of it.” This seems pretty straightforward, since embodying means to “Be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form.”
Do you think that your knife has a high or low embodied energy? When compared to other aspects of a typical American lifestyle knives have a low amount of embodied energy in them. According to WattzOn, a knife will create a 0.0% impact on your recommended Personal Energy Footprint. Why is this? This is because knives last so long, and they do not take much energy to sharpen (especially if done with human power)!
This being said, there is still a heckuva lot of energy that goes into a knife’s lifecycle; 3.2 million Joules (MJ) for an average knife! This is about the energy that is in three one-tonne pickups traveling at 100 miles per hour! That is A LOT of power, all packed up in your knife! Wow!
Although it may take a lot of energy initially to create a knife, that knife will need almost no energy input over its lifespan. What WattzOn does not mention is that only a really good knife will last fifty years (one of the assumptions of their model). Some people buy cheap knives frequently and simply throw them away yearly rather than having them sharpened. This is obviously going to HIGHLY increase the Energy Footprint of that particular knife. This is where Smart Sharp can help DECREASE the Energy footprint on your knife, by taking off much less metal than machine sharpening, and extending the lifespan of your knife.