Technomass refers to the mass of all human-made (artificial/anthropogenic) structures and objects on Earth. The amount of technomass provides a quantitative characterization of the human impact on the planet. The term gained prominence when a study. showed that, around 2020, the amount of all technomass became greater than the global

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

, i.e. the mass of all of living organisms on the planet. Having crossed this symbolic level highlights the dramatic human-induced epoch of the

Anthropocene ''Anthropocene'' is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which human impact on the environment, humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to ...

. It has also been pointed out the production of technomass is on a scale greater than natural erosive terrestrial geological processes. In 2024, the total technomass is estimated to be about 1.4 teratons (1.4 trillion tons)

Main contributions

Technomass is dominated by construction materials in structures (e.g. buildings) and infrastructure (e.g. pavements). Its main contributions are *

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

: ~50% *

construction aggregate Construction aggregate, or simply aggregate, is a broad category of coarse- to medium-grained particulate material used in construction. Traditionally, it includes natural materials such as sand, gravel, crushed stone. As with other types of ag ...

s (crushed stone, gravel, sand): ~30% *

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

s: ~8% *

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

: ~5% * metal structures: ~3% *

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

: a few % In addition, manufactured

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

s contribute to about 1%. Their production keeps increasing exponentially. Today, humans use about 100 times their own mass in plastic. Maps of technomass can now be created using satellite-based observations of the Earth. Inventory of biomass and technomass

The 20th century rise of the technomass

The concept of technomass is important in discussions about human impact on the environment, resource consumption, and the

—the proposed geological epoch defined by significant human influence on Earth's geology and ecosystems. It was estimated that, in 2020, the total technomass was around 1.1 teratons (1,100 gigatons), most of which created over the past century. In comparison, the 1.1 teratons of

emerged over several billion years. Since the beginning of the 20th century, technomass has doubled roughly every 20 years. It is a key indicator of human influence on the planet and its measurement helps track resource use and environmental impact. Today, the transformation of the Earth's land surface by mineral extraction and construction is on a scale greater than natural erosive terrestrial geological processes. Humans have become the most significant global geomorphological driving force. Each week, they produce an amount of technomass that is comparable to that of their own mass.

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, biomass
Biocubes: a visualization of biomass and technomass
Anthropocene

Main contributions

The 20th century rise of the technomass

See also

References

External links