Quick links:

Language:

Main content:

Sustainable Resource Use

Tanker ship being unloaded in the Pauillac harbor, a part of the port of Bordeaux, France

This is the 2007 draft on resources. You will get the newest version here.

For dwelling, clothing, mobility, etc. (and so on), materials and energy are needed that will only be available in the long run, if a) renewable resources are used within the time frame of regeneration or b) non-renewable resources are substituted by renewable ones before extraction stops keeping up with demand. (For renewable resources, see challenges regarding soils, forests, fish stocks, and available water).

Affected people and foundations of life: Taking today's consumption level (not regarding a continuing rise), reserves of resources like silver, gold, tin, copper, tungsten and nickel will be sufficient for economic extraction for the next 14 to 44 years, inclusive of marginal and subeconomic reserves for 29 to 158 years. To keep the same extraction level beyond these time-frames a continuance or increase in technological development is needed, successful explorations and investments, as happened in past decades. (RWI [Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung]/ISI [Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung]/BGR [Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe] 2006.) Because of decreasing resource concentration within explored deposits, the material flow, energy use and pollution caused by extraction will probably increase, as maybe the costs will do, too. There is not a lot of data about the issue to which extent of low resource concentrations large-scale extraction will work physically, economically, ecologically, and timely.

Regarding petroleum, the International Energy Agency sees increasing market tightness beyond 2010, as oil demand growth surpasses the growth in global oil capacity. There are different causes: demand growth, lack of investment, geopolitical and financial problems, and oil field decline. (IEA [International Energy Agency] 2007, 5f. [and following]) According to presumptions, global petroleum production rate (barrels per day) will reach a maximum and decline subsequently – regardless of large reserves and resources. The assumed point of time for "peak oil" ranges from 2005 to not before 2030 (ASPO [Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas] 2007, EWG [Energy Watch Group] 2007, BGR 2005, IEA 2004). The peak and decline of oil extraction flows are explained by physical constrains and/or costs of extraction. Underlying causes of this slow depletion are: dropping pressure of deposits during exploitation, viscosity of extracted oil (increasing portion of heavier oil), lacking efficiency of gas injection (regarding flows, not to recovery factor), time frames (and costs) for measures to increase flow rate, etc. As a consequence oil prices could increase, or demand has to decrease because of substitution, efficiency or savings. A peak of natural gas extraction is predicted to follow within this century. If risks are not managed farsightedly, peak oil could lead to severe consequences to world economy, especially to transportation and global trade (DOE [United States Department of Energy] 2005). Peak oil theory is gaining support, but there is no consensus on it. Hence peak oil may have to be considered as a risk with some uncertainty, just like other factors leading to a gap between demand and supply of oil.

Resource efficiency and savings are necessary not only to prolong the use of our resource base, but also to save energy, minimize CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions and other environmental damage, as well as to gain economic savings. Scarcity of resources can cause international conflicts.

Targets/goals: no international target. According to the UN (United Nations) Environmental Programme a long-term reduction of resource consumption of industrialized countries by a factor of 10 is necessary to be able to meet, amongst others, the requirements of less developed countries (UNEP 1999, 2). Germany has, in its sustainability strategy, set the target to roughly double resource productivity from 1990/94 to 2020 (Bundesregierung [Federal Government of Germany] 2002, 93).

Trend: see above-mentioned projections of IEA and others regarding oil; no summarizing data on trends.

Measures: Besides substitution and saving there are other approaches for increasing resource productivity or resource efficiency: dematerialization, miniaturization, durability and reusing of products respectively components, and recycling of material.


Sources

Draft (2007)

Photo credit: © Port Autonome de Bordeaux