Sustainable development is the globally embraced paradigm for integrating environment and development policies. Agreement ends with attempts at operationalizing the elusive notion of sustainability. A contentious debate among "environmentalists" and "environmental economists" has brought about a confusing proliferation of indicators and policy advice on sustainable development. Greening the monetary national accounts could moderate the debate by generating concepts and indicators which translate environmental concerns into the language of widely used economic variables. The implementation of sustainable growth and development requires more. "Eco-nomic" instruments of environmental cost internalization need to be combined with environmental legislation and regulation. Such reconciliation of environmental and economic policies should be supported by a "social compact" between government and civil society. The sustained implementation of sustainable development depends on it.
In this paper the results of an analysis of the material intensity of advanced composite materials are presented. The analysis is based on the MIPS-concept of the Wuppertal Institute which allows the calculation of the overall material intensity of products and services. It can be shown that the production of one kg of E-Glass fibers is connected with the consumption of 6.2 kg materials, 95 kg water and 2.1 kg oxygen which is of similar size compared to the inputs required in steel production. Material inputs required to produce one kg of p-aramid are 37 kg of materials and 19.6 kg air. Values for carbon fibers are even higher yielding to 61.1 kg of abiotic materials and 33.1 kg of air. Similarly, the production of epoxy resins is connected with larger material flows than the production of polyester resins. Of core materials, inputs per kg for PVCfoam exceed those in PUR-foam production by a factor of 1.4 in water to 2.3 in abiotic material consumption. However, ecologically decisive are not the inputs per kg but the material input per service unit. Therefore, the material input per service unit computed for the body of a passenger ship and a robot arm are compared with alternative steel and aluminium versions. Both examples show that in the case of significant inputs during the user phase of products, even a more material intensive investment in the production phase can yield significant ecological benefits over the whole life-cycle compared to metal versions. Improvements can easily reach a factor of two albeit significant potential for engine optimizations have still been neglected. Results already include the actual recycling quota of metals whereas for composites only virgin material has been calculated as any form of real recycling does not actually exist but only certain types of downrecycling. Of those treatment options, first material recycling and second the use in blast furnaces would lead to better results in resource productivity than incineration and landfills. The paper finally draws some conclusions about the potential advantages of material substitution in the automotive industry. Due to the rather short real operation time of cars during their user phase - around six months - an investment in advanced composite materials in car production only results in a significant improvement of the overall eco-efficiency of cars if it allows a substantial weight reduction of the overall vehicle.
Mit dieser Arbeit wird herausgestellt, welche Möglichkeiten auf diesem Weg für die Integration von Frauen und die Umsetzung von Geschlechtergerechtigkeit zusammenhängend mit Nachhaltigkeit eröffnet werden. Werden Frauen bei der Aufstellung Lokaler Agenden 21 (LA 21) einbezogen? Können neue effizientere Durchsetzungsstrategien entwickelt werden oder bedeutet das Einbringen von Fraueninteressen weiter einen enormen Aufwand für die Aktivistinnen bei anhaltender Vergeblichkeitserfahrung? Wird der Abbau der Geschlechterhierarchie als Voraussetzung für Nachhaltigleit erkannt und einbezogen? Bei der Klärung dieser und weiterer Fragen werden internationale, nationale und lokale Ebenen betrachtet. Einführend wird der Zusammenhang zwischen Geschlechtergerechtigkeit und Nachhaltigkeit aufgegriffen. Die Relevanz von Fraueninteressen für nachhaltige Lebensweisen wird anhand analoger Umgangsformen bzgl. der Diskriminierung von Frauen und des Raubbaus an der Natur verdeutlicht. Diese Ausführungen erklären die Notwendigkeit, Frauenbelange explizit zu nennen, Partizipation, aktiv zu fördern und in die Agenda 21 aufzunehmen.