Dematerialization and Immaterialization

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DEMATERIALIZATION AND IMMATERIALIZATION

Dematerialization refers to technological production using less energy and fewer or lighter-weight materials. Immaterialization is a similar approach, militating against the consumption of material goods.

Dematerialization

The concept of dematerialization is strongly associated with the work of economist and planner Paul Hawken, who proposed that industry should recalibrate inputs and outputs to adapt to environmental constraints. "To accomplish this, industrial design would employ 'dematerialization,' using less material per unit of output; improving industrial processes and materials employed to minimize inputs; and a large scale shift away from carbon-based fuels to hydrogen fuel, an evolution already under way that is referred to as 'decarbonization"' (Hawken 1993, p. 63). Indeed, Hawken sees dematerialization as a long-term trend, because much contemporary technology—refrigerators, televisions, cars, even houses—already weigh less and use less material than they did in the 1970s. According to Hawken's calculations, during the ten year period from 1972 to 1982, the redesign of automobiles in the United States reduced annual resource use by 250 million tons of steel, rubber, plastic, aluminum, iron, zinc, copper, and glass. Hawken's approach thus implies a rejection of heavy industry as the foundation of a technological economy, and is allied with notions of industrial ecology, green design, and natural capitalism.

Hawken, however, credits Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) with originating the concept of dematerialization, which Fuller called "ephemeralization." Fuller's own invention of the geodesic dome was an example of ephemeralization, because it weighed only three percent of what a traditional structure of equivalent size would weigh, while being even more earthquake- and fire-resistant. According to Fuller, ephemeralization had already triumphed in his day. "[B]etween 1900 and today," he said in 1968, "we have gone from less than one percent to more than forty percent of humanity living at a high standard [with] the amount of resources [consumed per person] continually decreasing …" This "came only as fall-out of the doing-more-with-less design philosophy" (Fuller 1970, p. 68).

Fuller also described a design curve under which technologies increase in size soon after their invention until they "reach a giant peak, after which miniaturization sets in" (p. 73). Subsequent developments in personal computer, cell-phone, and portable music technologies such as CD, MP3, and iPod players bear out Fuller's theory. The prospects of nanotechnology provided further confirmation. He concluded, playfully, that "Ephemeralization trends towards an ultimate doing of everything with nothing at all—which is a trend of the omniweighable physical to be mastered by the omni-weightless metaphysics of human intellect" (p. 73).

Dematerialization is also operative in science. The replacement of field work and laboratory experimentation by computer modeling and simulation may be described as another type of dematerialization.

Immaterialization

The immaterialization of consumption, as a companion process to dematerialization in production, has weak and strong forms. (It should not be confused with immaterialism in metaphysics, regarding the reality of immaterial phenomena such as the mind or soul.)

In its weak form, immaterialization is simply the consumption of dematerialized consumer goods—the same ones purchased in the past, such as refrigerators or automobiles, but now manufactured using less energy and materials. These goods are designed to consume less energy when used, and to be more easily recyclable, so that there is reduced waste.

In its strong form, immaterialization of consumption refers to the replacement of material goods with immaterial ones such as services, information, and social relationships. The use of an electronic telephone directory is an immaterial alternative to the use of a large paperback telephone directory. The Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia, whose motto is "Connecting People," sees both dematerialization and immaterialization as ways to promote a sustainable consumer economy. Immaterialization thus reflects another aspect of the service economy and the information, or knowledge, society.

Immaterialization in the strong sense also points toward possible cultural transformations, including shifts in ideas about the good life. Material consumption is not a good in itself, but a means to the end of human well-being. When analyzed in terms of well-being rather than material goods, productivity may actually be decreasing; human beings may be consuming more, but enjoying it less. Certainly the marginal utility of another unit of material consumption has declined, suggesting cultural or spiritual goods such as music and meditation as more inherently fulfilling than the purchase of another television set, however dematerialized. Yet just as the paperless office has remained full of paper, so immaterialized goods seem always to be complemented with material, such as music posters, coffee table art books, designer wardrobes, and specialized furniture for those who practice meditation.

CARL MITCHAM
JONATHAN WALLACE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hawken, Paul. (1993). The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. New York: HarperBusiness.

Fuller, R. Buckminster; Eric A. Walker; and James R. Killian. (1970). Approaching the Benign Environment. University: University of Alabama Press for Auburn University. A collection of 1968 talks.

Ryden, Lars, ed. Foundations of Sustainable Development: Ethics, Law, Culture, and the Physical Limits. Uppsala, Sweden: Baltic University Programme, Uppsala University. A multi-authored work reflecting Scandinavian interests in dematerialization and immaterialization as central to sustainable development.

Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics