Glossary · Machinery law and conformity
Resource efficiency
German: Ressourceneffizienz
In manufacturing and product policy, resource efficiency is the ratio between the benefit obtained (products, functions) and the natural resources used (materials, energy, water) over the product lifecycle; improving it means achieving the same benefit with fewer resources.
- EU
- Compliance
In one sentence
Resource efficiency means achieving the same product benefit with fewer materials, energy and water across the product lifecycle.
Example
A machine builder redesigns a gripper to use less aluminum and adds a standby mode that cuts compressed-air consumption during breaks.
How it applies
- Engineering: Durability, reparability, energy consumption and recyclability are design decisions; they increasingly appear in customer specifications.
- Regulation: In the EU, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) enables product-specific requirements on durability, reparability and resource use, supported by the Digital product passport (DPP). Requirements depend on the delegated acts for each product group.
- Documentation: Repair instructions, spare-parts information and end-of-life guidance support resource efficiency; the documentation team should make them available and accurate.
- Operation: Energy and material data from machines help operators identify waste, for example leaks or idle consumption.
Buyers increasingly ask for consumption values and repair options in tenders, so reliable data becomes a sales factor. Resource efficiency claims in marketing must be substantiated; vague environmental claims are increasingly regulated in the EU.