Eco-efficiency is a partial objective for decision-making.
It asks for the minimal ecological input to reach a certain effect or – with other
words – for the maximal effect under a given ecological input. In the technical
context the ecological input is the energy consumption and grey energy (for construction,
maintenance and final recycling purposes of the machines and sites); for forest
technology, the impact to the forest soil by compaction and erosion must be
regarded, too.
Together with
its twin ecological compatibility we can assess the ecological suitability
that is one sub-objective to find the optimal option. Parallel to the ecological
suitability we also should look at the economic and the social suitability. For
more information about systematics of decision-making, look at objectives
and three-step model of optimization.