The increasing scarcity of resources

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Description

Scarcity is the problem of infinite human needs and wants, in a world of finite resources. Resources of all kinds are scarce. In turn the market price rises rapidly to reflect this increased scarcity. The mobile industry like any other industry will find that it will become more important to compete on the global market place for the same resources needed for their various products.

Throughout the production process various resources are being used to construct and assembly the products. Below are a couple of examples:

Water , used in the production processes, such as for cooling systems.
Petroleum , raw material for many chemical products e.g. plastics.
Energy , used for fabrication of the product.


Enablers

The past two centuries have seen unprecedented growth in human population and economic well being for a good portion of the world. This growth has been fed by equally unprecedented natural resource consumption and environmental impacts, including conversion of large portions of the natural world to human use, which have prompted recurring concern about whether the world’s natural resource base is capable of sustaining such growth. Furthermore the desire for a higher living standard in the developing world places additional demands on natural resource commodities.


Inhibitors

  • Human Creativity

While exponential growth can be expected to lead to increasing resource scarcity, human creativity can ameliorate increased scarcity. Humans have been quite adept at finding solutions to the problem of scarce natural resources: finding more abundant substitutes for various natural resources, exploration for and discovery of new reserves, recovery and recycling of materials, and, perhaps most importantly, the development of new technologies that economize on scarce natural resources or that allow the use of resources that were previously uneconomical.

  • Recession

A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. Although during a recession production and use of natural resources is diminished, they are still being allocated. However the strain on natural resources is for the time being alleviated.

  • Recycling

Processing of waste (such as paper, glass, and some metals and plastics) so that the materials can be reused. This saves expenditure on scarce raw materials, slows down the depletion of non-renewable resources, and helps to reduce pollution. E.g. metals are virtually unique among materials because they can be recycled indefinitely without losing their inherent properties. These special properties allow metals to be melted down and re-pressed without loss of quality.


Paradigms

  • Adaptation

Population and economic growth into the next century will greatly increase the demand for natural resource commodities. Even though population growth has slowed, a population of six billion growing at 1% adds the same number of people as three billion people growing at 2%. The historical success of adaptation to increased demand for these commodities is by no means a guarantee of future success.

  • Recycling

Resource conservation, reuse and recycling are important parts toward sustainability. Recycling requires far less energy, uses fewer natural resources, and keeps waste from piling up in landfills.


Timing

In the course of the twentieth century technological change has driven an enormous increase in the production of goods and services. The annual output of the world economy has grown from $31 trillion in 1990 to $42 trillion in 2000; in 1950, total world output was $6.3 trillion. The ever increasing output of goods and services will fuel the scarcity of resources.


Breakthrough Approaches




Web Resources


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