Sustainable Materials Without the Hot Air
About the book
Part of the Without the Hot Air series, Julian M. Allwood and Jonathan M. Cullen's study takes an engineering view of a wide range of materials, including steel, cement and plastics. The authors set out how future generations could keep using them while doing less harm to the environment. The argument works first as a warning and then as a practical manual of solutions, grounded in evidence. It is written for designers, engineers, business and operations managers, traders, and officials in government and NGOs working on climate, energy, waste or trade, though it also aims to appeal to fans of popular science. A second edition brought the science and industry material up to date.
Bill Gates said it surprised him with how much room there is to cut overall material use, including reuse at industrial scale of materials from discarded buildings and cars.
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Bill Gates (CEO/Microsoft)
I was surprised to learn how many opportunities there are to reduce overall use of materials. For example, although I knew about basic recycling efforts like collecting aluminum cans at the office, I hadn’t realized how much reuse is possible at an industrial level. The authors argue that when a product -- say, a building or car -- is discarded, the materials in it are often still usable. (Reusing is much better than recycling, because recycling takes yet more energy.) If you throw out your old refrigerator, the steel is probably still in good condition. So is the steel in old buildings, as long as there hasn’t been a fire or earthquake. It could be reused, if you could take it apart easily and get it to someone who wanted that shape.
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Julian M. Allwood, Jonathan M. Cullen