The Failure of Eco-Efficiency to Guarantee Sustainability: Future Challenges for Industrial Ecology
Western industrialized societies are inherently unsustainable in their present form because they depend almost exclusively on a finite supply of non-renewable minerals and fossil fuels. In addition, the resulting wastes cause various environmental problems ranging from widespread ecosystem disruptions to global warming. The most common response to these problems has been to promote technological improvements in eco-efficiency, which may be defined as ''adding maximum value with minimum resource use and minimum pollution'' (Welford 1997). While constructive, improvements in eco-efficiency alone will not guarantee sustainability of industrialized societies because the limited supplies of non-renewable minerals cannot be extended indefinitely via recycling and substitution, and a transition to renewable and nuclear energy sources would result in significant negative environmental impacts, particularly if deployed on a large scale. In addition, according to the second law of thermodynamics, industrial production technologies have inherently unavoidable environmental impacts. Finally, any hard won improvements in eco-efficiency will soon be negated if growth in population and consumption is allowed to continue. Consequently, long-term industrial sustainability can only be achieved through a transition to a steady-state economy where the total throughput of matter-energy is kept at a constant and sustainable level. This requires not only improvements in eco-efficiency but also a reassessment of fundamental societal values that erroneously equate material consumption and economic growth with well-being and happiness.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 15020732
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-42241; KP1202020; TRN: US200521%%244
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Progress, Vol. 23, Issue 4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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POLICY AND ECONOMY
AVAILABILITY
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FOSSIL FUELS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
NUCLEAR ENERGY
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THERMODYNAMICS
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recycling
renewable energy
entropy
economic growth
societal factors