There is an interesting discussion on this topic on the “as green as it gets.org” website. First, they distinguish between creating wealth and getting rich. They list a few examples – I can inherit a million dollars, and I’d be rich, but I didn’t create any wea DATABASE USA lth. I can convince my government that I’m a good candidate for a research fellowship, and I can get wealthy regardless of what I create. I can steal from my neighbor and make myself wealthy without making wealth. I can exploit natural resources and pull trees out of the jungle and generate income, though most of the wealth was actually generated by Mother Nature.
Quaternary economies – research and development, creating ideas and inventions that can later be used by folks in other sections to make a new or better product.
So, continuing to draw on the “asgreenasitgets.org” discussion, wealth is principally generated in manufacturing. In Primary economies, we utilize wealth from Mother Nature. In Secondary economies, we manufacture wealth. In Tertiary economies, we move wealth around. In Quaternary economies, we prepare the manufacturing sector to make more wealth. If you are going to create wealth which should not be confused with making someone wealthy you must manufacture. And, the more value added in manufacturing, the more wealth you create.
So, back to innovation and green manufacturing. I used what I thought would be my killer closing argument with the class by again referring to the IPAT equation. In that equation, you’ll recall, one term that engineers can influence is “impactGDP.” Meaning, if we wish to offset or blunt the drive for improved standards of living by people around the world hence consuming more of everything and the continuous growth of population, then we need to develop manufacturing technologies that reduce the impact environmental, social, etc. associated with production and GDP growth.
That’s where innovation needs to come in. Processes and systems in the secondary economy that convert materials into new products with substantially reduced impact.
I will continue to introduce the topic of innovative manufacturing technologies from time to time as examples of what can be accomplished. As a member of the fourth economy – this is my small contribution to creating wealth.
David Dornfeld is the University of California Berkeley. He leads the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability LMAS, and he writes the Green Manufacturing blog.