Archinect - News

The battle against planned obsolescence takes a step forward in Europe

2019-10-01T13:00:00-04:00

It's no secret that planned obsolescence makes the world go 'round. We've all been there: You buy a big-ticket item that seems to work great until, that is, the product is no longer under warranty. Soon after, it breaks. Lo and behold, repairing the item is prohibitively expensive, it might even cost nearly as much to fix as buying a whole new item. What are you going to do?

Aside from making for a frustrating consumer experience, the practice generates an incredible amount of waste, especially with regards to consumer electronics and home appliances.

Legislators in Europe have had enough and are working to make planned obsolescence in household appliances a thing of the past. According to a recent article from BBC News, "From 2021, firms will have to make appliances longer-lasting, and they will have to supply spare parts for machines for up to 10 years. The rules apply to lighting, washing machines, dishwashers and fridges."

The move is expected to help reign in carbon dioxide emi...

Our dependence on concrete is exhausting global sand supplies

2019-08-26T14:00:00-04:00

China may be the biggest consumer of sand right now, but the issue is a global one. A UN report published earlier this year showed that sand extraction is far outstripping the rates at which it is replenished. According to a team of scientists who recently wrote about the topic in Science Magazine ($) and The Conversation, “Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world”–measured by weight, they surpass fossil fuels and biomass.

Writing in Forbes, Laurie Winkless probes the far-reaching and destructive impacts of skyrocketing global sand consumption as the world's urbanizing cities demand more and more of the substance to fuel new construction.

It's only August but humans have already consumed a year's worth of resources

2015-08-14T15:40:00-04:00

Humans have exhausted a year’s supply of natural resources in less than eight months, according to an analysis of the demands the world’s population are placing on the planet.

According to the Guardian article, the world's population currently consumes the equivalent of 1.6 planets a year – and, at the rate we're going, that will jump to two planets a year by 2030. But what does that mean, exactly?

Earth Overshoot Day, or Ecological Debt Day, refers to the "date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year." It's determined by the Global Footprint Network, a think tank that provides ecological footprint accounting services.

This year Earth Overshoot Day was August 13 – six days earlier than last year. That means that despite efforts to reduce resource depletion, global consumption continues to rise due to both population growth and increased consumptive behavior.

While industrialized countries have traditionally been responsible for the largest share of global consumption, this balance is shifting as the rest of the world develops.

Experts believe that humans first began to exceed the...