Bill Gates wrote an article for Quartz this week and references his “favorite author” Vaclav Smil.
He argues that the most important man-made material is concrete, both in terms of the amount we produce each year and the total mass we’ve laid down.
On concrete, this is a remarkable statistic.
Another astonishing China statistic
The broader article, however, is about materials and he argues that efficiency or less usage in the developed world doesn’t really matter because it will be overwhelmed by demand from the emerging world.
Smil points out that if the poorest 80% of the planet reaches a living standard that’s just a third of what people in rich countries enjoy, the world should expect to continue using more materials for generations to come.
