MAKING THE WORLD

The text outlines six categories for increasing industrial energy and material productivity: design, new technologies, controls, corporate culture, new processes, and saving materials. It advocates for a shift from linear 'once-through' material flows to circular systems inspired by nature (biomimicry), suggesting that systematic application of these efficiencies could reduce total material flows by a factor of one hundred or more.

• Industrial energy efficiency can be significantly improved through 'Pinch technology' and designer catalysts, particularly in chemical manufacturing, where the former can save half of remaining energy and pay for itself within six months.
• The microchip manufacturing sector, despite being high-value, possesses immense potential for energy savings; for example, a Singapore plant reduced energy use per wafer by 60% between 1991 and 1997.
• Simple design changes can yield massive efficiency gains, such as modifying a single louver in laboratory fume hoods to reduce fanpower by 60–80%, or moving steel casting closer to rolling mills to save 18% of reheat energy.
• The document advocates for 'distributed intelligence' and self-organizing systems in factories, moving away from hierarchical control to models that resemble biological ecosystems to optimize complex processes.
• Biomimicry—imitating nature's processes—can replace high-temperature, toxic industrial methods with gentler alternatives, such as using microorganisms or enzymes to create structural materials or fibers like spider silk at body temperature.
• Material efficiency can be achieved through 'net-shape' manufacturing, which eliminates scrap by molding parts to their final form, and 'ephemeralization,' which uses the minimum amount of material necessary for a function.
• Closed-loop systems, including remanufacturing and 'takeback' laws, significantly reduce waste; Germany's packaging recycling rate rose from 12% in 1992 to 86% in 1997 due to extended product responsibility.
• Experts suggest that if the full spectrum of material and energy savings were systematically applied, the total flow of materials needed to sustain current services could be reduced by a factor of one hundred or more.

APA

RMI (n.d.). MAKING THE WORLD. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter4.pdf

Chicago

RMI. MAKING THE WORLD. n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter4.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=MAKING THE WORLD |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter4.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmindmaking, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{MAKING THE WORLD}}, institution = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter4.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }