About
The Factor10 Institute 2008
The Factor 10 Institute has been created to provide practical support for achieving significant advances in resource productivity in the production and consumption sectors through:
- The design of eco-efficient logistic systems, processes, and services;
- The development of dematerialized products, services, buildings, and infrastructures with high resource productivity;
- Appropriate marketing strategies, maintenance, recycling and disposal of goods;
- Enhancing consumer information on the environmental quality of products and services;
- The creation and performance of research and development plans;
- Offering seminars for firms, politicians and other interested people, giving practical advice for implementing the Factor 10 and the MIPS-concepts at home, in the public domain, in firms, and in governments;
- Small scale seminars for political and business leaders to identify long-term sustainable economic options;
- Forging coalitions among international initiatives for practical approaches toward sustainability, such as The Natural Step, Sweden, the Zero Emission Forum, Japan, The Environmental Footprint, USA, and the Dutch Sustainable Technology Program.
The Factor 10 Institute takes particular interest in questions relating to the increase in employment and the sustainable financing of governments. It also provides services to the international Factor 10 Club.
The Factor 10 Institute 2008 [.html]
The International Factor 10 Club
was founded in October 1994 in Carnoules, Provence. The members hail from 12 countries, including India, Canada, Japan, USA, as well as from most western European countries. The Factor 10 Club was called into being because of mounting concerns over the unchartered role of human-induced global material flows, and the ecological ramifications of their unchecked growth. The members wish to draw attention to the need for substantially reducing global material flows in a timely manner. Some of the topics presently on the agenda include: policy and legal approaches to dematerialisation; changes in economic and cultural priorities; increasing resource productivity through lean technology and changing consumption patterns; re-financing national budgets, as well as work in a sustainable economy.
The International Factor 10 Innovation Network
was founded in 1998 in Carnoules, Provence, as a response to increasing
demands in industry and administrations for obtaining expert, non-bureaucratic
help in answering questions relating to resource productivity increases
and sustainability in general. A number of projects are now in progress
and in the planning stage. Among them are the training of personell in
small, medium, and large enterprises in eco-design, eco-innovation, and
marketing of ecoefficient products and services; the training of trainers;
analyses of successes and failures of firms in moving toward sustainable
performances; consulting with governments on R&D plans and the development
of legislation; “low-MIPS” retrofitting of housing developments; and developing
models for sustainable economies.
MIPS Concept
The Factor 10 and the MIPS-Concept were developed by Schmidt-Bleek, starting in 1991. MIPS stands for material input per unit service (utility), S/MI being a measure for resource productivity. He also coined the term “ecological rucksack” to designate the life-cycle-wide natural resources disturbed in their natural settings for producing, maintaining, and using a product, which he calls “service delivery machine”. According to Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, Member of the Board of Deutsche Shell AG, this is acomprehensive concept, which answers to the most pressing socio-economic and ecological needs of today. It does not loose itself in theoretical thoughts but shows a practical way out of a dilemma, offering profits and growth while making the path to sustainability accountable.
English [pdf / 700 kb]
The Factor 10 History
Read about the History of MIPS and Factor 10.