the energy requirements for manufacturing irrigation equipment were evaluated from a survey of a number of factories and workshops in israel. based on the results obtained and the life span of the components, the annual amortization of energy by high-pressure (overhead sprinklers), medium-pressure (undertree sprinklers and sprayers) and low-pressure (drip lines) irrigation systems was calculated for citrus orchards and cotton crops as irrigated in israel. for citrus orchards a low-pressure sprayer system amortized more energy than a medium-pressure undertree sprinkler system, and more than a high-pressure, overhead sprinkler system. for irrigating a cotton crop, the low-pressure drip system used more embodied energy than the movable, high-pressure overhead sprinkler system calculations show that the reduction in energy requirement for water conveyance needed by irrigation system operating at low pressures compensates for their higher energy losses in system amortization (edited author abstract) refs