Material Efficiency and Resource Conservation (MaRess) _A German Approach

Limitations on raw materials and especially so called energy materials, meaning materials used to harness and store energy in renewable, sustainable ways is again high on the policy agendas. This is hardly surprisingly following the ever stronger warnings of climate change (CC):global warming (GW), Greenhouse Gases GHG's, and the estimated peeks in fossil fuels, esp. oil and its domination of power for transportation.

In this post, I present of the German Gov approach to the global materials situation. It is a rich resource explaining in simple language in its introduction the reasons for concern:

--"Environmental damage caused by the extraction and exploitation of resources, the associated emissions and the disposal of waste, all lead directly to environmental problems, and as a result, also to social and economic problems. Other factors, such as the insecurity of supplies, the scarcity of resources, the resulting international conflicts, and high and/or volatile raw materials prices, can also lead to strong economic and social dislocation in every country on Earth".

AND HENCE
--"The need to decoupling economic growth from resource consumption without downsizing the quality of life."

in reference to:

"Environmental damage caused by the extraction and exploitation of resources, the associated emissions and the disposal of waste, all lead directly to environmental problems, and as a result, also to social and economic problems. Other factors, such as the insecurity of supplies, the scarcity of resources, the resulting international conflicts, and high and/or volatile raw materials prices, can also lead to strong economic and social dislocation in every country on Earth."
- Projekt Materialeffizienz & Ressourcenschonung (MaRess) Home (view on Google Sidewiki)