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2. Use of Energy and Raw Materials
33. Industrial growth is widely seen as inevitably accompanied by corresponding increases in energy and raw material consumption. In the past two decades, however, his pattern appears to have fundamentally changed. As growth has continued in the developed market economies, the demand for many basic materials, including energy and water, has levelled off; in some cases, it has actually declined in absolute terms.
34. Energy consumption per unit of GDP in OECD countries has been dropping at a rate of 1-3 per cent every year since the late 1960s. Between 1973 and 1983, these nations improved energy efficiency by 1.7 per cent annually.[1] Industrial water consumption per unit of production has also declined. Older pulp and paper mills typically used about 180 cubic metres of water per ton of pulp; those built, during the 1970s, however. used only 70. With advanced techniques that keep water circulating within a closed system, and with proper staff training, use rates could be lowered to 20–30 cubic metres per ton of pulp.[2]
35. An integrated steel mill uses about 80–200 tons of water for every ton of crude steel. However, since only about 3 tons of water per ton of crude steel are lost, mostly by evaporation, recycling can greatly reduce consumption.[3] Closed water circulation systems are not unique to the steel industry or to developed market economies. Between 1975 and 1980, the chemical industry's output in the USSR increased by 76 per cent, but the total consumption of fresh water remained at the level.[4] And between 1981 and 1986, Soviet industrial output increased by 25 per cent but industrial water consumption remained constant.[5]
36. Declines in consumption of other raw materials began much earlier. In fact, the amount of raw materials needed to a given unit of economic output has been dropping over this entire century, except in wartime, for practically all non agricultural commodities.[6] A recent study of consumption trends of seven basic materials in the United States bears this out,[7] as studies in Japan. Japan used only 60 per cent a much raw materials for every unit of industrial production in uses in 1973[8] These efficiency trends do not result from a decline in manufacturing in favour of service industries, for over these periods the output of the manufacturing continued to grow. The productivity and efficiency of resource use are constantly improving, and industrial product or steadily switching away from heavily material-intensive products and processes.
37. The two oil price hikes of the 1970s shocked many countries into saving money by promoting conservation measures, switching to other fuels, and raising overall energy efficiency. These events demonstrated the importance of energy pricing policies that take into account their current stock, depletion rates, availability of substitutes, and any unavoidable environmental
- ↑ OECD, The State of the Environment 1985 (Paris: 1985).
- ↑ 'Industry Experience with Environmental Problem Solving', background paper prepared for the World Industry Conference on Environmental Management, organized by the International Chamber of Commerce and the UN Environmental Programme, Versailles, 14-16 November 1984.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ UNEP, The World Environment 1972-1982 (Nairobi: 1982).
- ↑ V. Anikeev, Director of the Department on Environment and Rational Use of Natural Resources, GOSPLAN, during a visit by WCED to the GOSPLAN headquarters, Moscow, 12 December 1986.
- ↑ P.F. Drucker, 'The Changed World Economy', Foreign Affairs, Spring 1986.
- ↑ E.D. Larson et al, 'Beyond the Era of Materials', Scientific American, June 1986,
- ↑ Drucker, op. cit.
