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Cradle to Cradle:
Eco-Efficiency & Eco-Effectiveness |
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A Public Lecture jointly-organised by the By: Could we move beyond being eco-efficient and develop a system that promotes ‘eco-efficacy’? We need to rethink how urban centres and industries organise their services and production systems so as to optimise environmental and economic benefits. Introducing the ‘Cradle-to-Cradle’ design framework where design process recognises the complex, abundant processes of nature’s ecosystems - the ‘biological metabolism’- but also articulates a parallel ‘technical metabolism’ for human industry. Dr Michael Braungart, co-author of the internationally renowned book “Cradle to Cradle” and founder of EPEA International Umweltforschung GmbH, provides a compelling case for the re-engineering of the production capacity and processes in business and industries towards greater eco-efficiency and effectiveness. Both biological and technical metabolisms are characterised by eco-effective, cyclical flows of materials, energy and water and whole-community mutualism. Besides overhauling the production of goods and services, he will also share how we could maximise the environmental performance of the built environment through the “Cradle-to-Cradle’ Building Charter, illustrating the guiding principles, innovation concepts, and case studies of Cradle to Cradle buildings. Ultimately, the ‘Cradle-to-Cradle’ approach aims to point out an innovative pathway for industrialised economies to move beyond just reducing negative impacts (eco-efficiency), to providing comprehensive strategies for creating a wholly positive footprint on the planet – environmental, social and economic (eco-effectiveness). The lecture focuses on the “Environmental Sustainability” domain of the Centre for Liveable Cities’s strategic liveability framework which encompasses “Governance”, “Planning”, “Environment”, “Quality of Life” and “Economy”.
About the Speaker Dr Michael Braungart Dr Michael Braungart is a chemist and founder of EPEA International Umweltforschung GmbH in Hamburg, Germany, and co-founder of MBDC McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Braungart’s work has been published in numerous journals on science, public affairs, design and environment in Europe and the US. He and William McDonough co-authored The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability, published in 1992, and Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, published in 2002 by North Point Press. Dr. Braungart is currently a professor of Process Engineering at Universität Lüneburg (Germany). Recently, he accepted a visiting professorship at the Darden School of Business, lecturing on such topics as eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness, Cradle to Cradle® design and Intelligent Materials Pooling. Dr. Braungart also serves as Scientific Manager of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, the nonprofit research center which produces the “Top 50 Study”: an evaluation of the environmental performance of the world’s largest chemical companies. Dr. Braungart’s work addresses topics from particles to policy. He has initiated worldwide scholarly and scientific inquiry into the adverse environmental and physiological impacts of industrially-produced consumer goods. Dr. Braungart currently concentrates his efforts at MBDC and EPEA by working with innovative companies on issues of materials assessment, waste and energy balances, Cradle to Cradle design, design for disassembly, and new product design.
DATE: 25 October 2010
Last updated on 15 Oct 10
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