Resource efficiency is the maximising of the supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively, with minimum

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste pr ...

d (

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

) resource expenses. It means using the Earth's limited resources in a

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

manner while minimising

environmental impact Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

Motivation

A 2014 report by The Carbon Trust suggested that resource challenges are intensifying rapidly – for example, there could be a 40% gap between available water supplies and water needs by 2030, and some critical materials could be in short supply as soon as 2016. These challenges could lead to disruptions to supply, growing regulatory requirements, volatile fluctuation of prices, and may ultimately threaten the viability of existing

business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, soci ...

Related concepts

Resource efficiency measures, methods, and aims are quite similar to those of resource productivity/ resource intensity and of the slightly more environment-inclined concept of ecological efficiency/ eco-efficiency.

Energy efficiency

Possible approaches

To achieve and optimize natural resource and energy efficiency, several sustainable economical or production schemes have been proposed over the course of the last 50 years:

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aim ...

cradle-to-cradle Cradle-to-cradle design (also referred to as 2CC2, C2C, cradle 2 cradle, or regenerative design) is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutr ...

- or

regenerative design Regenerative design is a process-oriented whole systems approach to design. The term "regenerative" describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials. Regenerative design uses whole systems thinking ...

, as well as

biomimetics Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. The terms "biomimetics" and "biomimicry" are derived from grc, βίος (''bios''), life, and μίμησ ...

principles, just to name a few. Common to all of them is built-in sustainability, in which (

non-renewable A non-renewable resource (also called a finite resource) is a natural resource that cannot be readily replaced by natural means at a pace quick enough to keep up with consumption. An example is carbon-based fossil fuels. The original organic ma ...

) resource-wasting is ruled out by design. They are generally built to be

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book '' Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED On ...

, robustly self-sustaining and respecting the

carrying capacity The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as ...

of the economic or

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

system.

Resource use measurement and identification of hotspots

A key tool in resource efficiency is measuring different aspects of resource use (e.g.

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

water footprint A water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people. The water footprint of an individual, community, or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by t ...

, land footprint or material use), then identifying 'hot spots' where the most resources are used or where there are the best opportunities to reduce this resource use. For example,

WRAP Wrap, WRAP or Wrapped may refer to: Storage and preservation * Gift wrap or wrap paper, used to enclose a present * Overwrap, a wrapping of items in a package or a wrapping over packages * Plastic wrap, a thin, clear, flexible plastic used to ...

has published information on hotspots for 50 grocery products likely to contribute most to the

s associated with UK

household consumption Consumption is the act of using resources to satisfy current needs and wants. It is seen in contrast to investing, which is spending for acquisition of ''future'' income. Consumption is a major concept in economics and is also studied in many o ...

. WRAP have created a range of tools and guides to help improve business resource efficiency.

Initiatives and programmes

UNEP

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...

works to promote resource efficiency and ''

sustainable consumption Sustainable consumption (sometimes abbreviated to "SC") is the use of products and services in ways that minimize impacts on the environment in order for human needs to be met in the present but also for future generations. Sustainable consumption ...

and production'' (SCP) in both developed and

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

. The focus is on achieving increased understanding and implementation by public and private decision makers, as well as civil society, of policies and actions for resource efficiency and SCP. This includes the promotion of sustainable

resource management In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or ...

in a life cycle perspective for goods and services.

Europe 2020

The resource-efficient Europe flagship initiative is part of the

Europe 2020 Europe 2020 is a 10-year strategy proposed by the European Commission on 3 March 2010 for advancement of the economy of the European Union. It aims at a " smart, sustainable, inclusive growth" with greater coordination of national and European po ...

Strategy, the EU's growth strategy for a smart, inclusive and

sustainable economy Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

. It supports the shift towards

sustainable growth Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desi ...

via a resource-efficient,

low-carbon economy A low-carbon economy (LCE) or decarbonised economy is an economy based on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the ...

Tomsk Polytechnic University

In October 2012

Tomsk Polytechnic University National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) is a technical university in Russia. TPU was a member of 12 international associations, including the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) un ...

(TPU) launched the Development Program of Resource Efficient Technologies for the period 2013–2018. That program was presented by TPU in 2009 at the Russian federal competition "National Research University". A key point of the program of TPU was announced the formation of high school as a world-class university-based staffing and development of technologies for resource-efficient economy. TPU developed educational module "Resource Efficiency", prepared and published a textbook "Principals of resource efficiency", optional subject matter of the same name introduced in the curriculum (for all disciplines and areas of undergraduate). TPU envisages university development in the field of resource-efficient technologies that unites six research and educational clusters: #Safe Environment ##Non-destructive testing and diagnostics ##Materials for extreme conditions ##Domestic and industrial

waste recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

Sustainable Energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as green ...

High-temperature superconductivity High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previou ...

technologies for

energy production Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include production of Renewable energy, renewable, nuclear power, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, ...

##Nuclear and hydrogen fuel of the new generation ## Hybrid simulation in energy production ##Resource-efficient generation #

Medical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

Bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

materials and technologies ##Radiation technologies in bioengineering ##Electrophysical biomedical complexes #Planet Resources ##Resource-efficient use of mineral resources ##Clear water ##

Green chemistry Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. While environmental che ...

#Cognitive Systems and Telecommunications ## Cognitive software and hardware systems ## Wireless telecommunication systems and technologies #Social Science and Humanities in Engineering ##Social science and humanities component of engineering ##Mechanisms of technical innovations initiation and engineering forethought

Resource Efficient Scotland

''Resource Efficient Scotland'' is a Scottish government-funded programme that helps businesses and the public and third sectors save money by using resources more efficiently.

References

{{reflist Resources Waste minimisation