BLUE ECONOMY - http://www.blueeconomy.eu/100ideas/
The Blue Economy® vision is to respond to the basic needs of all with what we have. As such, it stands for a new way of designing business: using the resources available in cascading systems, where the waste of one product becomes the input to create a new cash flow.
In this way, jobs are created, social capital is built and income rises – while the environment that provides the basis for our lives is no longer strained and polluted. Thus, we can evolve from an economy where the good is expensive, and the bad is cheap, to a system where the good and innovative is affordable.
About one third of the innovations presented has already been implemented in companies around the globe, one third is in prototyping status and one third has been scientifically proven but requires further research to create market-ready products. They all act as examples of the overall vision and philosophy of Blue Economy. Every day, we discover new inventions and exciting developments. Our aim is to inspire hundreds, thousands and even millions of entrepreneurs.
This website acts as a platform for information and exchange.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
The Earth’s limited resources pose “carrying capacities” for populations of species – the number of individuals an environment can sustain. Yet through efficient use of resources and energy, and evolving clever mechanisms to adapt to and overcome environmental conditions and challenges, ecosystems have maximised the sustainable sizes of diverse populations. Nature constantly increases its efficiency and has proven to be the most economic actor of our planet.
The first industrial revolution lead to modern day pollution; the second industrial revolution allowed humans to grasp the extent of threat this destruction poses to our own lives: we have recklessly passed our carrying capacity. The general public feels helpless in finding a way out. Human production and consumption patterns are no longer sustainable.
Numerous examples around the world prove that we can imitate nature’s designs, perfected over millions of years, in our own production – using the waste of one product as the input for another. These innovations will revolutionize the industries they are applied in, making consumption of those products a positive action. Thus, it will become possible to live in a sustainable way, responding to all basic needs for water, food, energy, health and shelter. Thinking in systems and cycles, we become witness to the dawn of the 3rd industrial revolution!
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE BLUE ECONOMY®
What are the principles of a Blue Economy with regards to practice and implementation?
To date, only rudimentary approaches for principles and criteria exist, coupled with statements of individuals.
Companies cannot rely on such a basis if they want guidance and orientation regarding the way forward.
Therefore, the need arises for a scientific catalogue of criteria and a stringent management system for a systemic, cascading economic model – scientifically evaluated and independent of individuals.
From the beginning of Blue Economy there were controversial discussions among experts, not least since different publications described different principles. Sometimes 12, sometimes 21 or maybe only ten, all without a scholarly basis.
As a consequense, the Blue Economy team converted this surge of principles into six basic modules:
- local (use what you have)
- efficient (substitute something with nothing)
- systemic (mimic nature)
- profitable (optimize & generate multiple cash flows)
- abundant (satisfy all basic needs)
- innovative (create change, seize opportunities)
Based on these six criteria, the Blue Economy Foundation will from 2015 develop a management system of Blue Economy principles and critera which can be used as instruction for companies during product development and process design.
BLUE ECONOMY PRINCIPLES - GUNTER PAULI
•Solutions are first and foremost based on physics. Deciding factors are Pressure and Temperature as found on site.
•Substitute something with Nothing – question any resource regarding its necessity for production.
•Natural systems cascade nutrients, matter and energy – waste does not exist. Any by-product is the source for a new product.
•Nature evolved from a few species to a rich biodiversity. Wealth means diversity. Industrial standardization is the contrary.
•Nature provides room for entrepreneurs who do more with less. Nature is contrary to monopolization.
•Gravity is main source of energy, solar energy is the second renewable fuel.
•Water is the primary solvent (no complex, chemical, toxic catalysts).
•In nature the constant is change. Innovations take place in every moment.
•Nature only works with what is locally available. Sustainable business evolves with respect not only for local resources, but also for culture and tradition.
•Nature responds to basic needs and then evolves from sufficiency to abundance. The present economic model relies on scarcity as a basis for production and consumption.
•Natural systems are non-linear.
•In Nature everything is biodegradable – it is just a matter of time.
•In natural systems everything is connected and evolving towards symbiosis.
•In Nature water, air, and soil are the commons, free and abundant.
•In Nature one process generates multiple benefits.
•Natural systems share risks. Any risk is a motivator for innovations.
•Nature is efficient. So sustainable business maximizes use of available material and energy, which reduces the unit price for the consumer.
•Nature searches for the optimum for all involucrated elements.
•In Nature negatives are converted into positives. Problems are opportunities.
•Nature searches for economies of scope. One natural innovation carries various benefits for all.
•Respond to basic needs with what you have, introducing innovations inspired by nature, generating multiple benefits, including jobs and social capital, offering more with less: This is the Blue Economy
