Material Efficiency and Energy Use

The more efficient use of materials by improved construction design and material properties has a long success story with regard to reducing the energy demand of energy-intensive materials, vehicles, and moving parts of machines and plants. However, this more efficient use of materials, which can reduce the specific material and energy demand by approximately 1% per year, was scarcely known or perceived as a challenging development in the past. However, during the last decade, it was gradually considered to be a promising option for energy and climate change policy in many countries. In addition to the technological option of material efficiency by improved properties and recycling, the substitution of energy-intensive materials by less energy-intensive materials (including bio-based polymers) and the intensification of product and plant use are other options that may play a more important role in reducing the quantity of materials produced and hence energy demand in the next decades. Entrepreneurial innovations will support these technical options to achieve intensified uses of machinery and vehicles by pooling (leasing, renting, and car sharing). The impact on reduced primary energy demand may range from approximately 0.3% per year (autonomous technical progress in material efficiency without specific policies) to more than 0.6% per year if supported by various policies oriented toward sustainable development in the future.