This book serves as a timely reminder of the importance of addressing society’s unchecked and imbalanced use of materials. It maps out why the use of materials exploded over the last century và how we got khổng lồ where we are today.
Bạn đang xem: Making the modern world: materials and dematerialization by vaclav smil
The book has various interesting insights và covers developments for key material types: the section How materials flow reviews the methods to lớn monitor & measure flow as well as the associated energy costs & environmental impacts, capturing the state of the art; Material outlook provides the latest thinking about efficiency in steel products. Through all this Vaclav Smil writes in a personable, accessible style, interacting with the reader and guiding them through his extensive knowledge of the subject.
However, the book’s purpose appears to be undersold; the rationale for dematerialisation may seem obvious for some but lớn others reducing demand for materials và ‘using less’ goes against the current business mã sản phẩm for many industries & the desires of the wider public.
Dematerialisation’s benefits for climate change are also underplayed. If we explore the options for mitigating consumption by material providers, there are only limited opportunities to lớn further improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions. Faced with achieving the high levels of decarbonisation required lớn prevent dangerous climate change, we find that mitigation on the part of consumers will play a very strong role – reducing our demand for energy and materials in society.
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Viewed as an entire piece, the book can be heavy going. The sections are dense and would benefit from sub-headings & signposting throughout, as well as supporting diagrams, tables and figures. The introductions to the sections are welcome, but the book often reads lượt thích an academic literature reviews where the reader can go for pages without a section break. Having said that, it is the type of book you can dip in và out of and each page will provide something new in terms of facts & figures or novel processes from across industry.
A word of caution for those with an avid interest in the circular economy & material efficiency: it is worth reading Smil’s definitions of recycling & dematerialisation carefully, as the former captures re-use through to lớn energy recovery, and the latter covers aspects of material efficiency beyond the elimination of particular materials.
Finally, it was disappointing that the Material outlook section did not cover the potential for the circular economy & provision of ‘material services’, as these are perhaps some of the key concepts that could yield positive results for dematerialisation. Notwithstanding this, the book does offer hope và ends with the author’s own solutions to lớn the challenge of excessive material use.