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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