energy
and material efficiency
A constant drive in the improvement of the human condition is to
achieve more with less. This applies to energy and to materials. A table
showing the relative efficiencies (and how to calculate them) can be found
at fuel
usage efficiency.
The lighter and stronger the materials, the less weight a car has
to carry. The less weight a car has to carry, the less powerful its engine
needs to be. The less powerful the engine, the less the engine weighs,
thus gaining still further.
Such advances are continually driving up the efficinecy of machinery
and thus allowing increasing production per unit energy in all fields
(but see also Jevon’s
paradox).
sustainability
and biodegradeability
It is useful to distinguish between sustainability and degradeability.
In the case of sustainability, the objective is to re-use (or recycle)
material once obtained. For example, aluminium requires a great deal of
energy to during the separation process. It is, therefore, now widespread
practice to reclaim aluminium (for instance, coke cans), melt them down
and reform them for other uses.
With many of our products, recycling is presently considered to be ‘uneconomic’.
Thus, plastic bags are mostly, as yet, not recycled and therefore help
to fill up land tips, or cast away into the environment in great numbers,
causing multiple problems and unpleasantness. This has led to attempts
to substitute paper bags and bags manufactured from other rmaterials which
can then easily degrade back into nature with much less unpleasant environmental
impact.
Of course, with all things reality the terms sustainability and degradeability
can shade into one another, and with real complex manufactures there will
be varying parts in current human technology which take up different places
along this distinction.
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“Others talked about the "double bottom
line" - measuring not only profits but also the
social and environmental impact of the business. The
ideas behind this movement flowed into the mainstream
under the catchword "sustainability.”
—
“McDonough and Braungart argued that the burden
of sustainability should not lie with the consumer,
who just wants to buy a good product. Rather it should
be designed into the process, so that it is nearly invisible.
“Consider Atlanta-based Interface Inc., the world's
largest carpet maker, which leases its floor coverings
to customers so that it can recycle its products. By
reducing its waste, it has saved $231 million since
1995.
“The company also said that by cutting the amount
of material in its carpet, even while making it more
durable, it saved $113 million in four years beginning
in 1 995.
“Since 1996, Interface has seen its energy use
in fabric production drop by 31 percent, while water
use per square meter of carpet has fallen by up to 78
percent. Its use of petroleum-based materials has declined
by 28 percent since 1994 - all because of its conscious
approach to sustainable design.”
Also see Interface
Inc.’s web-site (example page link given).
From Interface’s site:
“Interface is the largest commercial carpet manufacturer
in the world. Headquartered in Atlanta, Interface has
manufacturing locations on four continents and offices
in more than 100 countries.”
And summarised from State
of the world 2004:
“[...]they have also developed a new material
for carpet making called 'solenium' claimed to last
4 times as long as traditional carpets, use 40% less
raw material and to be entirely remanufactured into
new carpets.”
example
material
“Solenium
is a sandwich of very different materials that
is designed to come apart for recycling.”[From
illustration caption]
“Solenium consists of a very flat weave of
a shiny yarn made of poly trimethylene terephthalate
(PTT), a polymer from Shell Chemical with excellent
inherent stain-resistance. Even tough stains come
off the surface with warm water, according to John
McIntosh, director of business development for Solenium.
Most of Solenium's quarter-inch (6 mm) thickness is
taken up by a high-density urethane backing. Bill
Browning, director of Green Development Services at
the Rocky Mountain Institute and a consultant to Interface,
notes that "bounce and resilience in carpet is
normally predominantly in face fiber. But if you put
that in backing, you get away from many of the cleanability
problems associated with carpet.”
notes
bio-degradeable
- wool -
stain resistant, washable - comes clean like new,
relatively cheap, requires no oil except in weaving
machinery, takes to any colour and many designs, 100
% biodegradeable, contains no allergenic chemicals.
inputs
- Requiring heavy inputs, including oil.
Farming requires such inputs — for the tractors
etc.
Then there is fodder, which usually requires oil-based
fertilisers and pesticides. Feeding cloven hoofed
animals for food production uses approximately ten
times more food input, including land use, than if
you eat directly from the land yourself.
That land is going to come under increasing pressure
for other uses as oil runs down.
- Most colouring is oil-based, while those people
using things like lichen for colouring are tending
to wipe out some lichens.
- Maintenance tends to use washing machines and oil-based
detergents.
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