Sustainable material use and systems Flashcards
What inflow of material categories are there and what is mostly used in the categories?
- Construction materials: gravel and sand
- biomass: harvest
- fossil fuels: hard coal
- metals: iron
- industrial minerals: phosphate, salt
What are renewable materials and where do they come from?
Renewable materials come from the ecosphere
- food, water, air, biomaterials, bioenergy
What are non-renewable materials and where do they come from?
Non-renewable materials come from the Lithosphere, earths crust. Taken from a stock and produced very slowly
- fossil fuel, metals, non-metallic materials
What are emissions of substances?
- losses of material
- acidification, climate change, ozone depletion, toxicity
What is a driving force for higher energy use?
World population
- same trend as increase of material use
What describes the total environmental impact?
I = i * m * u * P
I = total impact
i = use of material [impact/kg]
- mercury higher impact per kg than iron
- non toxic materials better, choice on impact
m = material efficiency [kg/utility]
- use material in efficient way
- depends on how much we use and how much we emit
u = welfare, lifestyle of people [utility/capita]
P = Population [capita]
(i*m able to change with technology)
3 restrictions for a sustainable use of material
- Limited availability of resources (ecosphere)
- Limited space (how much we have in the ground)
- Limited assimilation capacity of emitted substances (uptake in ecosphere)
What does assimilation capacity mean?
Assimilation capacity is the ability of nature to degrade and incorporate substances into the natural cyclic flow of substances
- emissions, short term and long term
What does limited availability of primary materials mean?
Limited availability of primary materials means that there are stocks in the lithosphere that are not endless
- resources and reserves
- reserve base = will soon be able to access but not yet
(se F12 för fig)
What does the future of mining metals hold?
- Reduced concentration in ore -> will exceed its economic value
- Increased energy use
- Increased env pressure
- Increased cost
What does Economic depletion of a non-renewable resource mean?
When the cost of extraction and using what is left of the material exceeds its economic value
What 4 socio-ecological principles are there? Describe them
- Substances extracted from the lithosphere (earth crust, metals) must not systematically accumulate in the ecosphere
- Society-produced substances must not systematically accumulate in the ecosphere
1 and 2 -> limited assimitaion capacity of emitted substances
- not sure where the limit of sustainable is, but if there is a systematic increase it will not be sustainable
- The physical conditions for production and diversity within the ecosphere must not systematically be deteriorated
- preserve long term productivity and biodiversity (agriculture, forestry, fisheries)
- > Limited space
4. The use of resources must be efficient and just with respect to meeting human needs (now and in the future) - > Limited availability and resources
What strategies are there to reduce the env. impact of material use?
Transmaterialization
- Substitute a material for:
- a less harmfull
- a less scarce
- a renewable
Dematerialization
- reduce the flow (and add energy efficiency)
- slow down the flow
- closing the flow
Describe dematerialization
(fig F13)
- Reduce the flow: use less material for a series
- use material more efficient
- increase the quality of the material
- Miniaturizing
- Multi-funktionality - one machine doing more things
- ex thinner aluminium cans - Slow down the flow: make materials last longer
- make the equipment last longer
- protect the materials in the equipment
- Better maintenance
- Reparability - Closing the flow: use the material again
- Re-use the goods
- Recycle in production process
- Recycle in consumed goods (old scrap)
- cascading or down-cycling
Equation for recycled content
r/(P+r)
r - recycled material
P - primary material
r = r_new + r_old
(new scrap from production and old scrap from use)
