Has anybody heard of any international/Australian embodied energy ratings, like the energy and water efficiency star ratings that come on most household appliances these days? Had a conversation with my husband about the lack of awareness about embodied energy in items - for e.g., what would be the embodied energy rating of an innocuous block of Lindt chocolate bought in Coles Australia, taking into account the kilograms of carbon emission to produce the chocolate in the Switzerland factory (and the various ingredients - cocoa from Ghana, dairy from Europe) to the packaging of the finished product (foil and cardboard) to its shipping to an export clearing house in the UK, to its shipping to Australia and distribution to every supermarket.!.
It's enough to turn you off chocolate for good...almost. Such a rating would give another dimension of knowledge to consumers wanting to support local produce and reduce global warming, at every level.
A Google search has revealed a couple of interesting articles but it appears there is no embodied energy rating, linked to the International Standards Organisation, developed yet?