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Factor Four
Since the industrial revolution, progress has meant an increase in labour productivity. Factor Four describes a new form of progress, resource productivity, a form which meets the overriding imperative for the future (sustainability). It shows how at least four times as much wealth can be extracted from the resources we use. As the authors put it, the book is about doing more with less, but this is not the same as doing less, doing worse or doing without. In 1972, the Club of Rome published Limits to Growth, which sent shock waves around the world by arguing that we were rapidly running out of essential resources. This Report to the Club of Rome offers a solution. It lies in using resources more efficiently, in ways which can already be achieved, not at a cost, but at a profit. The book contains a wealth of examples of revolutionizing productivity, in the use of energy; from hypercars to low-energy beef; materials, from sub-surface drip irrigation to electronic books, transport, video conferencing to CyberTran, and demonstrating how much more could be generated from much less today. It explains how markets can be organized and taxes re-based to eliminate perverse incentives and reward efficiency, so wealth can grow while consumption does not. The benefits are profits will increase, pollution and waste will decrease and the quality of life will improve. Moreover, the benefits will be progress will no longer depend on making ever fewer people more productive. Instead, more people and fewer resources can be employed. While for many developing countries the efficiency revolution may offer the only realistic chance of prosperity within a reasonable time span. The practical promise held out in this book is huge, but the authors show how it is up to each of us, as well as to businesses and governments, to make it happen.
360 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
39 books11 followersErnst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (born 25 June 1939 in Zürich, Switzerland) is a German scientist and politician (SPD). He was a member of the German Bundestag and currently serves as co-president of the Club of Rome jointly with Anders Wijkman.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 4, 2011
One of Cambridge Sustainability's Top 50 Books for Sustainability, as voted for by our alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. To find out more, click here.
Factor Four, a report to the Club of Rome which showcases 50 examples of best practice, argues that natural resources can be used more efficiently in all domains of daily life, either by generating more products, services and quality of life from the available resources, or by using fewer resources to maintain the same standard.
Our focus on production and productivity has had a number of negative side-effects: we are overusing the natural environment, decreasing the availability of non-renewable resources and creating enormous waste, possibly as much as £10 trillion every year globally. The alternative is Factor Four: using resources more efficiently, doing more with less, and increasing our resource productivity while using fewer resources.
Factor Four, a report to the Club of Rome which showcases 50 examples of best practice, argues that natural resources can be used more efficiently in all domains of daily life, either by generating more products, services and quality of life from the available resources, or by using fewer resources to maintain the same standard.
Our focus on production and productivity has had a number of negative side-effects: we are overusing the natural environment, decreasing the availability of non-renewable resources and creating enormous waste, possibly as much as £10 trillion every year globally. The alternative is Factor Four: using resources more efficiently, doing more with less, and increasing our resource productivity while using fewer resources.
June 7, 2020
Truly truly exceptional!
The thing the world needs most today is simple hard hitting methods to improve the environment to be given to elected officials on a silver platter t implement which do not increase cost of compliance or cost of business. This is exactly that.
It is still more surprising the lack of implementation of these simple choices comparing to what dumb expenses governments over the world undertake.
P.S.: I have given the same review for Factor 4 & Factor 5 since I read them together...
The thing the world needs most today is simple hard hitting methods to improve the environment to be given to elected officials on a silver platter t implement which do not increase cost of compliance or cost of business. This is exactly that.
It is still more surprising the lack of implementation of these simple choices comparing to what dumb expenses governments over the world undertake.
P.S.: I have given the same review for Factor 4 & Factor 5 since I read them together...
April 21, 2023
libro enteramente consagrado a crear conciencia hacia la eficacia, a derrocha menos energía y materia primas, motivada o relacionada con la crisis del medio ambiente.
Proponen y dan ejemplos de:
-productividad energética (ha tenido que llegar una guerra para ponernos a ello).
-leasing, de todo tipo, no solo de vehículos.
-cultura del reaprovechamiento.
-etc.
Libro de 1996, que vemos ahora un poquito de lo que pregonaban, pero a este paso...
Proponen y dan ejemplos de:
-productividad energética (ha tenido que llegar una guerra para ponernos a ello).
-leasing, de todo tipo, no solo de vehículos.
-cultura del reaprovechamiento.
-etc.
Libro de 1996, que vemos ahora un poquito de lo que pregonaban, pero a este paso...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews