Global materials flows

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511718786.009

7 - Global materials flows

from Part 1 - Energy and the environment: the global landscape

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Fridolin Krausmann

Edited by

David S. Ginley and

David Cahen

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Fridolin Krausmann: Affiliation:
Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt–Graz–Wien, Vienna, Austria
David S. Ginley: Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado
David Cahen: Affiliation:
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

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Human society requires increasing material inputs to sustain its production and reproduction. Many of the environmental problems we are currently facing can be attributed to this metabolism of society. This chapter explores the evolution of material use during human history and discusses current trends and patterns of global material consumption.

Synopsis

This chapter introduces the concept of social metabolism and the corresponding methodology of material flow accounting, which can be used to investigate exchange processes of materials and energy between societies and their natural environment and to address corresponding environmental problems. Against this background, the evolution of material use during human history from hunter-gatherers to current industrial societies is explored. The multiplication of global material extraction in the twentieth century, the shift from renewable biomass toward mineral and fossil materials and the growing share of materials used for non-energy applications are discussed in more detail. The chapter analyzes growth in material flows during industrialization and explores the interrelationships of material and energy use, population growth, economic development, and technological change. Inequalities in the global use of materials across countries and world regions are addressed. The chapter ends with a brief account of the challenges arising from the expected future growth of materials use.

Type: Chapter
Information: Fundamentals of Materials for Energy and Environmental Sustainability , pp. 81 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511718786.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

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