Factor 10 revisited.

• Author: Sampat, Payal
• Position: Environmental aspects of materials consumption - Statistical Data Included

A new report from the Nordic Council of Ministers suggests that while technological improvements can greatly reduce materials consumption in industrial economies, changes in consumer behavior are the key to locking in those gains.

The report takes its lead from a proposal made in the early 1990s by a group of prominent scholars, led by Germany's Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek. Arguing that human-induced materials flows are so heavy that they threaten to destabilize natural processes - upsetting the global carbon and nitrogen cycles, for instance - the scholars called for cutting back the use of certain materials (primarily minerals and fossil fuels) by as much as 90 percent in industrial nations, or by a factor of 10.

The Nordic Council's report is one of the first attempts to quantify what this broad goal might look like on the ground. The results indicate that factor 2 - or 50 percent - reductions are well within reach, even with existing technologies and consumer preferences. ["Factor X" = 100 [divided by] (100 - percentage cut)] More radical reductions, however, will be hard to come by without changes to materials-consuming systems.

Denmark's transport sector is a case in point. Given the industry's existing inefficiencies, there is considerable room for technological improvement, say the researchers. By improving fuel efficiency in cars, reducing car weight and aerodynamic drag, using better road-building techniques, and...