130
4.2 Changing the Demand for Stocks in Providing Services
Ultimately, in-use stocks provide a service and the question here is: can we use
fewer stocks by using them more to obtain the same level of service? Answering
this has less to do with the consumption of a particular material, like aluminium,
and more to do with the characteristics and lifetime of the stock in-use. We may also
seek to change behaviours in the use of stocks.
We look at the example of the stock of US automobiles in which aluminium is
increasingly a material component (Ducker Worldwide 2008 ). Even with optimistic
improvements in the effi ciency of aluminium production, embodied energy in automotive parts is likely to increase (Cheah et al. 2009 ), but there are options for changing the way auto stocks are used.
For example, collective consumption in the form of car sharing reduces the need
for people to own vehicles in exchange for the inconvenience of not having a private
vehicle on demand. An analysis of the US car sharing market found members of
carshare schemes reduced their number of cars per household, and on aggregate,
every carshare vehicle took between 9 and 13 private vehicles off the road (Martin
et al. 2010 ). Pauliuk and Müller ( 2014 ) also found that reducing vehicle ownership
by a third, reducing vehicle use by 20 % and shifting to smaller vehicles could
reduce emissions in the Chinese passenger vehicle fl eet by more than 40 % at 2050
(an effect that would be greater than doubling fuel effi ciency in the same period).
Another way to provide services from less stock is to have longer lived stocks
and infrastructure that are more intensely used. This is counter to the current practice of planned obsolescence but is compatible with business models using adaptable design (Allwood and Cullen 2012 ) and more radical approaches (Chap. 8 ). It is
sometimes argued that newer technology introduces greater operational effi ciencies
and so faster stock turnover is an effective mitigation strategy. However, this needs
to be considered in conjunction with the emissions embodied in the stocks. Kagawa
et al. ( 2011 ) demonstrated that, even based on technology from the 1990s and even
when considering the longevity of less effi cient vehicles, extending vehicle lifetimes in Japan has a net benefi t in terms of reducing GHG emissions. Further examples are discussed in Chap. 8 .
4.3 Timing
The current impacts of climate change and the prospect of yet higher global temperatures and more extreme weather should already instil urgency in policymakers
to institute climate adaptation and mitigation measures. There are also long-term
benefi ts of early action that interact with large-scale urbanisation and infrastructure
growth. For example, implementing more stringent building codes now that anticipate and avoid the impacts of future climate events can have a net economic benefi t
over the long term (Baynes et al. 2013 ; Wang et al. 2015 ). This raises the importance
of timing in effective policymaking.
T.M. Baynes and D.B. Müller
4.2 Changing the Demand for Stocks in Providing Services
Ultimately, in-use stocks provide a service and the question here is: can we use
fewer stocks by using them more to obtain the same level of service? Answering
this has less to do with the consumption of a particular material, like aluminium,
and more to do with the characteristics and lifetime of the stock in-use. We may also
seek to change behaviours in the use of stocks.
We look at the example of the stock of US automobiles in which aluminium is
increasingly a material component (Ducker Worldwide 2008 ). Even with optimistic
improvements in the effi ciency of aluminium production, embodied energy in automotive parts is likely to increase (Cheah et al. 2009 ), but there are options for changing the way auto stocks are used.
For example, collective consumption in the form of car sharing reduces the need
for people to own vehicles in exchange for the inconvenience of not having a private
vehicle on demand. An analysis of the US car sharing market found members of
carshare schemes reduced their number of cars per household, and on aggregate,
every carshare vehicle took between 9 and 13 private vehicles off the road (Martin
et al. 2010 ). Pauliuk and Müller ( 2014 ) also found that reducing vehicle ownership
by a third, reducing vehicle use by 20 % and shifting to smaller vehicles could
reduce emissions in the Chinese passenger vehicle fl eet by more than 40 % at 2050
(an effect that would be greater than doubling fuel effi ciency in the same period).
Another way to provide services from less stock is to have longer lived stocks
and infrastructure that are more intensely used. This is counter to the current practice of planned obsolescence but is compatible with business models using adaptable design (Allwood and Cullen 2012 ) and more radical approaches (Chap. 8 ). It is
sometimes argued that newer technology introduces greater operational effi ciencies
and so faster stock turnover is an effective mitigation strategy. However, this needs
to be considered in conjunction with the emissions embodied in the stocks. Kagawa
et al. ( 2011 ) demonstrated that, even based on technology from the 1990s and even
when considering the longevity of less effi cient vehicles, extending vehicle lifetimes in Japan has a net benefi t in terms of reducing GHG emissions. Further examples are discussed in Chap. 8 .
4.3 Timing
The current impacts of climate change and the prospect of yet higher global temperatures and more extreme weather should already instil urgency in policymakers
to institute climate adaptation and mitigation measures. There are also long-term
benefi ts of early action that interact with large-scale urbanisation and infrastructure
growth. For example, implementing more stringent building codes now that anticipate and avoid the impacts of future climate events can have a net economic benefi t
over the long term (Baynes et al. 2013 ; Wang et al. 2015 ). This raises the importance
of timing in effective policymaking.
T.M. Baynes and D.B. Müller