Factor Four - Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use - A Report to the Club of Rome (Paperback, New Ed)

Since the industrial revolution progress has meant an increase in labour productivity. Factor Four describes a new form of progress, resource productivity, one which meets the overriding imperative for the future: sustainability. It shows how at least four times as much wealth can be extracted from the resources we use. As the authors put it, the book is about doing more with less, but this is not the same as doing less, doing worse or doing without.;In 1972, the Club of Rome published "Limits to Growth", which sent shock waves around the world by arguing that we were rapidly running out of essential resources. This "Report to the Club of Rome" offers a solution. It lies in using resources more efficiently, in ways which can already be achieved, not at a cost but at a profit. The book contains a wealth of examples of revolutionizing productivity, in the use of energy, from hypercars to low-energy beef; materials, from sub-surface drip irrigation to electronic books; and transport, from video conferencing to CyberTran, demonstrating how much more could be generated from much less, today.; It explains how markets can be organized and taxes re-based to eliminate perverse incentives and