On 5 Nov 98 at 14:38, Martin Owen wrote:
> Does anyone know of a measure or index of sustainability for various
> materials and processes? ie is there some "measure" that I could use
> to compare the use of african hardwood to acrylic to make an
> artefact?
The concept I know of is MIPS - material intensity per service unit,
as explained in:
- Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek: Wieviel Umwelt braucht der Mensch? MIPS -
das Mass fuer oekologisches Wirtschaften. Basel, Boston: Birkhaeuser,
1993.
- Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek, u.a. (Hrsg.): MAIA - Einfuehrung in die
Material-Intensitaets-Analyse nach dem MIPS-Konzept. Basel, Boston:
Birkhaeuser, 1998. ISBN 3-7643-5949-8
[I'm sorry I only have the German titles, but I believe the first of
them has been translated into English.]
The homepage of the Wuppertal Institute, for which Schmidt-Bleek
works, can be found at:
http://www.wupperinst.org/Sites/home.html
and the section about material flows etc. at:
http://www.wupperinst.org/Sites/Divisions/environment.html
I hope this is of some help. At least the people at Wuppertal will be
able to guide you further.
Best wishes
Rolf Jucker
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Dr Rolf Jucker
Lecturer
Department of German
University of Wales Swansea
Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, U.K.
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel. +44-1792-295170
FAX: +44-1792-295710
WWW: http://www.swan.ac.uk/german/jucker.htm
Home: +44-1792-280368
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