Our All-Electric Future (collected short essays from 1990s)

Sustainable Design in an All-Electric Future
(from an essay © Ian Ritchie, London, 1998)

An approach and design methodology that ensures no negative impact upon the environment or the ecology of our planet at a micro or a macro level at any stage from raw material to use and reuse of any artefact and material from which it is made.

Sustainability is defined by many as: ‘the triple bottom line’ of:

Economic sustainability improves profitability by using resources more efficiently (workforce, raw materials, manufactured components, energy in all its forms, water and waste).

Environmental sustainability improves the management of natural resources, none of which are infinite, and reduces the impact of emissions, effluent and waste.

Social sustainability improves relationships with all stakeholders from inception to demolition.

These three definitions are simply economic imperatives that many successful industries have adopted for decades.

Historically, Bournville, Rowntree and others have implemented these sentiments. Nevertheless, they are fundamentally about how to work responsibly and to make profit.

The recognition of ’sustainability’ as an issue for industrialised countries is very important. However, its interpretation at present essentially maintains the status quo.

Obviously redirecting the industrial apparatus and consumer society without destabilising our society is an enormous challenge.

Nevertheless, our thinking must also focus upon the next phase of sustainability and will require a more profound investigation and consequent application.

I would suggest that this next phase is the ambition to extract, process, make and use things which we actually need, rather than simply be consumed (and entertained by) and discarded. This entails understanding how every fibre of every material behaves in the life of making and using artefacts; being able to separate them easily with low energy input at the end of the first useful life such that these fibres can be recycled positively into the next useful product.

We have to ensure that we have a shared understanding of what sustainability means, of the skills to work towards this aim, and of the values that relate to their wider social, environmental and economic responsibilities and encourages and enables others to learn and participate.

The future is all electric, whatever the source of its production. Electricity is what matters. We do not yet know how to store it in quantity or efficiently. This is a 21st century challenge.

Renewable and non-renewable energy will be generated somewhere, and the first question is whether it is local, national or international. The only feasible local production of electricity is solar photo-voltaic or, exceptionally, wind power. Solar photo-voltaic is very expensive and PV panel’s connections currently have a maximum life span of only thirty years. The emergence of ‘printed’ pv surfaces may signal that a more economic pv product will become realistic in the next decade, but not one that is more efficient. The paradigm moment will be when one photon activates two or more electrons! This will be a mega-change. MIT research showed it is possible and needs upscaling to production level.