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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