Increasing resource efficiency
There are two ways to reduce the material consumption per unit of service, the material input (MI) of the product can be reduced or amount of service units (S) can be increased. Material input in the production phase can be reduced by using less energy or raw materials. Also transport chains can be rationalized. In the use phase the material input per unit of service can be reduced when amount of service produced is increased. For instance in case of a newspaper the material input can be reduced by using recycled paper instead of primary. Material input per reader decreases when the same paper is shared with several persons. High quality products and availability of spares potentially increase the service life of the product. When the service life of a product is increased, the material consumption per unit of time decreases. Usually services like car sharing also help to reduce MIPS values since fewer products are needed to produce the service for greater number of people.Factor X concept
The Factor X concept was coined by Prof. Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek.Robèrt, K.-H., Schmidt-Bleek, B., Aloisi de Larderel, J., Basile G., Jansen, J.L., Kuehr, R., Price Thomas, P., Suzuki, M., Hawken, P. and M. Wackernagel. (2002). Strategic sustainable development – selection, design and synergies of applied tools. Journal of Cleaner Production. 10: 197–214. The factor targets refer to dematerializing of our economies. The Factor Ten Club founded in 1994 and the Factor 10 Institute founded in 1997 support the dematerialization target. It has been proposed that material flows in the industrialized countries should be decreased by factor 10 to reach more sustainable level of material use. Aim of factor targets is to increase resource productivity and increase the wealth created from the resources. The factor concept can be applied onNatural resource categories
The MIPS method can be used to measure natural resource consumption in five categories, viz.Material intensity factors
The cornerstone of MIPS calculations are the material intensity factors. The Wuppertal Institute has the most extensive list of MI-factors.The Wuppertal Institute, List of MI-factors (2003)Concept of ecological backpack
Ecological backpack is calculated by subtracting the net weight of the products from the total material input of it. The ecological backpack illustrates the hidden flows which cannot be seen in the final product. In many cases vast amount of resources are used or transferred in the developing world where the raw material production takes place. It is important to find tools to illustrate these mass movements since consumption of the products by large part takes place in the developed world. In many cases the weight of backpacks are multiple times heavier than the product itself.Scope and limitations of the MIPS method
The MIPS method measures the life-cycle wide material inputs required to produce a product or service. The MIPS method does not straightforwardly measure waste, pollution and other negative outputs produced by the human economy. However, all material inputs become outputs of the economy at some point, and when inputs are reduced also negative outputs like waste will decrease. MIPS provides a rough but easily understandable tool to measure overall volume and efficiency of resource use. Røpke 2001: 130 states: “As the number of pollution problems is very large, it is difficult to construct reasonable indicators for overall environmental impact from the output side.Røpke, I. (2001). The environmental impact of changing consumption patterns: a survey. International Journal of Environment and Pollution. 15:2 127–145. The focus on inputs is thus a way to avoid drowning in detail.” Since MIPS does not take into account for instanceCriticism towards the MIPS concept
The most common criticism towards MIPS method is related to the fact that MIPS does not take into account ecotoxicity of materials. Schmidt-Bleek reminds us that also non-toxic material flows can affect the environment. The current climate issue and emissions show that also vast amounts of non-toxic materials may contribute to environmental problems. Critiques have also noted that extensive material flows occur in natural processes. However, the pace on which humans transfer materials is so fast that the environment cannot keep up with it and reproduce itself.Conducted MIPS studies
MIPS-concept has been applied in multiple research projects, especially in Germany and Finland. The most extensive projects in Finland concerned transport sector and household consumption. FIN-MIPS Transport projectLähteenoja, S., M. Lettenmeier and A. Saari.(2006). Transport MIPS The natural resource consumption of the Finnish Transportation system. The Finnish Environment 820en. studied the Finnish transport system both from passenger and goods transport perspective in 2003–2005 whereas the FIN-MIPS Household projectKotakorpi, E., S. Lähteenoja, and M. Lettenmeier.(2008). In press. examined material intensity of housing, mobility, foodstuffs, household goods, tourism, leisure and sport activities in Finland and on sample of 27 Finnish households.See also
*References
Further reading
* Schmidt- Bleek, F. (1998). Das MIPS-Konzept. Weniger Naturverbrauch – mehr Lebensqualität durch Faktor 10. Droemer Verlag, München. *Schmidt- Bleek, F., S. Bringezu, F., Hinterberger, C., Liedtke, J., Spangenberg, H., Stiller, and M.J. Welfens (1998). Handbuch der Materialintensitätsanalyse MAIA. Berlin, Basel, Boston: Birkhäuser Verlag. * Sachs, Wolfgang, Tilman Santarius, and Patrick Camiller. ''Fair Future: Resource Conflicts, Security and Global Justice : a Report of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy''. London: Zed Books, 2007. * von Weizsäcker, E., A. B. Lovins, and L Hunter Lovins. ''Factor Four: Doubling Wealth – Halving Resource Use''. London: Earthscan, 1998.External links