Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

Eco-efficiency is a concept of the environment and economics. He applies for a particular sustainable manufacturing process. In a wider sense, is also spoken of consistency.

The concept of eco-effectiveness influenced the German chemist Michael Braungart and the architect William McDonough U.S. in their book " Cradle to Cradle" (C2C, From the cradle to cradle ). In it she put the term in contrast to the economic indicator eco-efficiency, and life cycle assessment, which analyzes the material cycle and its environmental impacts from cradle to grave.

Eco-efficiency is a measure of the effectiveness of sustainable and consistent manufacturing processes, " are their products and related material flows in sustainable relationship between ecological systems and economic growth ".

Eco-effective are by Braungart and McDonough products that can be recycled as biological nutrients in biological cycles either or kept as " technical nutrients " continuously in technical cycles.

The eco-efficiency has increasingly established itself in the industry since the early 1990s: while using fewer resources higher results are achieved and the environmental impact is reduced by the reduction of pollutants. With the progress of time, however, showed that eco-efficiency of the process of pollution and resource scarcity slow, but can not stop.

The principle for a ökoeffektiven approach is: is food waste ( "waste equals food" ). In many natural processes both energy and material is wasted. Plants and animals produce large quantities of "waste". You are not eco-efficient. But they are still eco-effective because they are part of a sustainable system that reused every piece of waste, such as fertilizer.

" Nature produces completely inefficient, but effective for millions of years. A cherry tree produces thousands of blossoms and fruit without damaging the environment. On the contrary: as soon as they fall to the ground, they become nutrients for animals, plants and soil in the area ".

Analogously, industrial production to be effective in delivering substances that can be used in other productions.

Ökoeffektive solutions developed, among others, the Hamburg institute EPEA.

Examples

Eco-efficiency:

• Reduce petrol consumption by fifty percent, but the total number of cars worldwide triple ( rebound).
• Brake pads so develop that they emit fewer particles, but still leave a total of thousands of tons of pollutants on the streets.
• Increase the proportion of recycled material in polymer products, ignoring the quality of the recycling material to the eighth ( down-cycling ).
• Reducing the volume of wastewater in textile production, but increase the number of additives and therefore end up still have a non-reusable product.

Eco-effectiveness:

• Capture emissions and for new products or fuels use ( upcycling ).
• Manufacture brake pads made of a material that can be safely attributed to biological cycles ( biodegradability ).
• Plastic products specifically developed so that they can be dismantled and recycled.
• Use sources of energy that comes directly from the sun (renewable energy).
• The total product of biological or technical cycles vote ( recycling ).

Criticism

A prominent critic of Michael Braungart is the long-time director of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy Friedrich Schmidt- Bleek. The award cited in Braungart's book assertion by the pessimistic orientation of the environmental movement necessary for the solution of the problems of creativity would be suppressed, he called pseudo- psychological nonsense. The practical feasibility of the concept doubted Schmidt- Bleek. As an example, he cites the compostable seat covers that were designed by Braungart for the new Airbus A380:

"I can feel on Michael's seat covers on the plane very well. But I'm still waiting for the detailed proposal to make the other 99.99 percent of the Airbus A380 to its principles. "

That the concept on a large scale without harming nature could be implemented, Schmidt-Bleek holds for totally excluded.

But even proponents of ökoeffektiven approach to criticism from cradle to cradle, about the business ethicist Rahim Taghizadegan:

" The promise is really only the fact that one could then waste without feeling guilty. But even that is wrong. Foods are about completely compostable products. Is it therefore right, en masse throw Unopened food? "

The concept of Braungart certified its own analysis and therefore does not meet the ISO standards 14040 and 14044 for life cycle assessment, require a critical review by an independent appraiser.

The concept does not consider the use phase of a product. For some products, however, this is the decisive factor for the ecological footprint, such as in mobility. The biggest impact on the environment has a car or an airplane during the use phase. Therefore, it is significant how easily the transport is to consume as little fuel as possible.