Household-level transition methodology towards sustainable material footprints

Abstract

, +358 50 448 0940) Highlights • A new methodology for studying sustainability transition at household level • The methodology covers assessment, vision development, experiments and upscaling • Measuring and reducing material footprints according to the MIPS concept • Households developed their own roadmaps towards sustainable resource use • Relevant experiments were tested and future services simulated Abstract This paper presents a new household-level methodology for transition towards sustainability. The methodology includes measuring the resource use of households on a micro level, testing relevant measures towards a one-planet resource use, and developing mainstreaming options in cooperation with households and providers of services, products, and infrastructures. We use the MIPS (Material Input Per unit of Service) method to calculate the use of natural resources and concentrate on the material footprint as an aggregated indicator for the overall use of material resources. With HST (Household-level Sustainability Transition) methodology, we extend the material footprint methodology from just measuring household resource use to developing visions, conducting experiments, as well as learning and upscaling, all of which contribute to the whole Transition-Enabling Cycle. Results from the first application of the HST methodology on five households in Jyväskylä, Finland, show that it is possible to achieve a significantly more sustainable level of consumption by a relatively few changes in everyday living. Achieving a one-planet use of material resources, however, also requires systemic changes.

The Influence of Teacup Shape on the Cognitive Perception of Tea, and the Sustainability Value of the Aesthetic and Practical Design of a Teacup

“…The collective power of the sustainable consumption of this great Chinese tea-drinking population should not be ignored. As mentioned in Laakso and Lettenmeier's [84] study on a household-level methodology for the transition towards sustainability, it is believed that the findings of this study can contribute to a more sustainable level of consumption by encouraging relatively few consumption behavior changes in everyday life.…”

Experiments in Everyday Mobility: Social Dynamics of Achieving a Sustainable Lifestyle

“…engaged in a number of leisure time activities, from sports to culture and volunteering in local organisations. The results from the experiment demonstrated that natural resource use could be reduced by making relatively few changes: the participating households achieved significant resource intensity reductions in mobility, food, household energy use, goods and leisure time activities, with falls of between 25 and 54 per cent (Laakso and Lettenmeier 2016). However, these reductions varied markedly between households, particularly in the case of the resource intensity of everyday mobility:…”

“…A total of 212 ideas were received, of which 14 were experimented with. 4 The natural resource use of households was estimated on the basis of consumption surveys and the resource intensity coefficients of each activity based on previous research (see Laakso and Lettenmeier 2016). engaged in a number of leisure time activities, from sports to culture and volunteering in local organisations.…”

“…while some participants managed to eliminate their private driving almost entirely and achieve reductions of up to 60 %, other participants could only make modest changes, despite the participatory process of selecting the trials (Laakso and Lettenmeier 2016).…”

Information-algorithmic support for complex ecological assessment of system objects

“…Wernick [8], K. Wiesen [9], C. Liedtkea [10], L. Mancini [11], S. Laaksoa [12]. Методика MIPS-аналізу в цих працях має об'єктом дослідження економічні системи і оперує до економічних характе-ристик, що потребує зміни її змістовності та математичної інтерпретації вхі-дної інформації і кінцевих результатів для отримання оцінки екологічності та небезпечного впливу господарської діяльності на об'єкти природного се-редовища.…”