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Strengths
Which strengths are apparent in the development of resource
efficient technologies and products?
Future-oriented development
Considering the increasing scarcity of resources and avoiding
potential supply shortages
Development of innovative products and stabilisation of the
German economy
Opening up new markets
Opportunities for new marketing strategies
Market differentiation in a green segment
Economic incentives
Process optimization and cost avoidance for waste treatment
Saving material and energy costs
Benefits from existing promotion measures
Improved communication
Internal communication and workforce motivation
Possibilities for improving public image
account for specific environmental impacts (e.g. soil acidi-
fication, human toxicity, and social criteria). Any considera-
tion should address the demand for critical raw materials
such as rare earths, as, for example, a resource optimized
production process might increase the use of rare earths.
In the light of anticipated shortages on the world market
the use of rare earths is risky and can counteract technol-
ogy diffusion.
A prerequisite for the development of resource efficient
solutions is the availability of appropriate competences in
research institutions and companies. This is a challenge, as
innovative technologies require novel know-how and, thus,
new professional qualifications. Therefore, training and fur-
ther qualifications might be necessary.
From an external perspective, the development of resource
efficient technologies opens up fundamental opportunities
to minimize the environmental impacts within and
Weaknesses
Which weaknesses are apparent in the development of
resource efficient technologies and products?
Missing cooperation and initiatives
for resource efficiency
Ecological initiatives focus on energy issues and climate
change
Insufficient networking for resource efficiency
Missing funding sources
High investment costs for technology and product development
are often an obstacle
Avoidance of external costs in the production process is often
economically not feasible for businesses
Missing competencies
Limited use of resource efficiency assessments and practical
implementation
Shortage of skilled workforce
Implementation of sustainability assessments particularly
with respect to human toxicity, long term availability and
social aspects (e.g. rare earths)
Necessary restructuring of processes within businesses and
along the supply chain
Table 2: Strengths and weaknesses of technical solution development for increasing resource efficiency (internal perspective)
beyond national boundaries. The corresponding effect is
much stronger if the developed technology is widely diffused
and / or used in resource intensive sectors (see chap-
ter 1.1).
Furthermore, increasing resource efficiency can reduce
the dependency on imported raw materials. This is particu-
larly important because Germany as a resource poor coun-
try has to import many of its raw materials.
It needs to be stressed that the development of resource
efficient solutions has positive effects on the German
economy, too. As described in chapter 1.1 a reduction
of material requirements can lead to significant cost
savings. Within the MaRess-project it has been calculated
that the gross domestic product (GDP) could increase by
14 percent through a higher resource efficiency on company
level driven by specific information campaigns and
consulting activities in 2030 (Distelkamp et al. 2010). A linear
reduction of material and energy costs by 20 percent
Ressourceneffizienzatlas
Resource Efficiency Atlas 69