Sign up by 2/21 to save $800 to attend Circularity, the leading circular economy event 4/29-5/1 in Denver.

Article Top Ad

Most Manufacturers 'Spectacularly Inefficient,' Researchers Find

A new report from MIT finds that new, high-tech manufacturing systems use anywhere from one thousand to one million times as much energy as older methods. Read More

It looks like the greening of manufacturing has a ways to go still: a study from MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has found that newer, high-tech manufacturing systems use anywhere from one-thousand to one-million times the amount of energy per pound of output as more traditional methods.

The study, led by MIT professor Timothy Gutowsky, looked at 20 manufacturing processes, from old-fashioned, heavy-duty industries like a cast-iron foundry to high-tech manufacturers of semiconductors and nanomaterials.

The inefficiencies from all these processes results, according to Gutowksi, from manufacturers’ primary concerns about price and quality rather than energy efficiency. The scope of energy use also has implications for their use in the move toward a low-carbon economy.

“The seemingly extravagant use of materials and energy resources by many newer manufacturing processes is alarming and needs to be addressed alongside claims of improved sustainability from products manufactured by these means,” Gutowksi and his colleagues write in the conclusion of the study, which was recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

This type of clear-eyed look at the environmental impacts of manufacturing, especially green technology manufacturing, is much needed, Gutowski said: measuring the scale of the problem is the first step to doing something about improving it.

One example laid out in the report is that of solar panel manufacturing. The process uses the same methods as microchips but on a larger scale, and demand is growing rapidly. A concern about the scale of the energy inefficiency from manufacturing them is that it can actually lower the benefits to the climate when looking at the ratio of the energy the panel can produce over its useful lifetime to the energy needed to manufacture it.

Now that the energy used in these manufacturing processes is documented, Gutowski  says the next step is working on innovations that can fine-tune energy use and maximize efficiency.

The journal article is available online through the Environmental Science & Technology website.

Factory photos CC-licensed by Flickr users Genealogy Photos and country_boy_shane.

Trellis Briefing

Subscribe to Trellis Briefing

Get real case studies, expert action steps and the latest sustainability trends in a concise morning email.
Article Sidebar 1 Ad
Article Sidebar 2 Ad