Technodiversity Glossary

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.

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03 and PR1-D02 – D04)

With the ecogram, Technodiversity indicates under which forest conditions a harvesting method can be used. It has the same basic structure like the technogram of the stand. When both graphs, technogram and ecogram, match well, then the method is suitable under these conditions.

Every method has its limitations. Concerning the structure of the ecogram, the following rules will help to find them:

The upper limit is defined by technical restrictions. A harvester, e.g., has its limits because of the length of its crane. Other methods are limited by the maximum length of the pre-skidding devices. And all methods, where machines must drive on the soil, cannot work at P5.

To the right side (towards wet soils), the damage on the ground limits any acceptance. Heavy machines are perfect for dry soils, good on fresh soils, and come to their limits with moist soils. If there are aids like bogie tracks or traction chains on the wheels, compatibility moves one column to the right.

The left and lower limits are given by competing methods, that are better for those conditions. No one who can take these alternatives would decide to take the option in dispute, because it is too expensive, too cumbersome or just not necessary for those conditions.

In the figure, the functiogram of an almost fully mechanized method with bogie-tracks for 40 m distance of the trails is shown together with its corresponding ecogram. By the chainsaw, this method is specialized for P3 (= 40 m trail distance), not less and not more. For a fresh soil (T2), the suitability is assessed as very good (star symbol), for moist soils it is good (plus symbol), and for wet conditions it is only limited (minus symbol). Also for dry conditions we decided to give a minus symbol, because there a method without bogie-tracks is better.

Matching the technogram of the stand and the ecogram of harvesting methods, those methods can be found that are best under the given conditions.

The problem is, that the ecogram of a working method must be composed by the ecograms of the sub-processes. Here, some rules must be regarded.

(See more at TDiv PR1-D04 and D05)

Ecological compatibility is a partial objective for decision-making. It looks for the disturbances in nature and environment, which will not be regenerated in reasonable times, and wants to minimize them.

Since not all effects will occur at every action, but the likelihood is high that any damage will happen, we have to think about risks and side-effects. 

Together with its twin eco-efficiency 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.

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03 and PR1-D01)

Ecological efficiency see eco-efficiency

In a study from 2009, Kleinhückelkotten et al. have found five different groups of people who use the forests for recreation. One of them are the ecological forest romantics, the others are holistic forest friends, pragmatical distant persons, self-centered forest users, and indifferent persons.

The ecological forest romantics represented 16% of the sample. They regard forests as highly organized natural organisms that require our full care. They believe that conventional forest operations are a threat and should be modified for additional sustainability.

This group of visitors has very little interest and acceptance for modern forest technology and is often vocal about it. 

(See more under TDiv PR1-E02)

Ecological suitability is one sub-objective of the decision-making process. It corresponds with the ecological objective of the company in a means-end-relationship: The means should be developed in a way that it fulfills the end that is given by the objective of the company.

The ecological suitability is subdivided into eco-efficiency and ecological compatibility. On the same level are two competing sub-objectives: the economic and the social suitability. The relationships between them can be organized by the general concept for technical operations that is given by the company.

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03 and -D01)

Economic effectiveness is a partial objective for decision-making. It assesses the effect of any action against the background of what is intended to reach. So, other words for effectiveness can be functionality or coverage.

Together with its twin economic efficiency we can assess the economic suitability that is one sub-objective to find the optimal option. Parallel to the economic suitability we also should look at the ecological and the social suitability. For more information about systematics of decision-making, look at objectives and three-step model of optimization.

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03 and PR1-C01)

Economic efficiency is a partial objective for decision-making. It asks for the minimal input to reach a certain effect or – with other words – for the maximal effect under a given input.

Together with its twin economic effectiveness we can assess the economic suitability that is one sub-objective to find the optimal option. Parallel to the economic suitability we also should look at the ecological and the social suitability. For more information about systematics of decision-making, look at objectives and three-step model of optimization.

For any real process, after finishing and collecting all costs the efficiency of the process can be measured. But in advanced, we must calculate the costs with a lot of uncertainties. To do this, the engineer formula is a method to calculate the costs as likely as possible.   

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03 and PR1-C01)

Economic suitability is one sub-objective of the decision-making process. It corresponds with the economic objective of the company in a means-end-relationship: The means should be developed in a way that it fulfils the end that is given by the objective of the company.

The economic suitability is subdivided into economic efficiency and economic effectiveness. On the same level are two competing sub-objectives: the ecological and the social suitability. The relationships between them can be organized by the general concept for technical operations that is given by the company.

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03)

Effectiveness is one of thepartial objectives when we look for the suitability of any option to find the optimal option. It explains in which extent the effect of any option fulfils the demands that are given by the corresponding sub-objective. For example, when we want to fell and extract trees from any harvesting site, the effectiveness is 100 % if we can extract all trees. If not, it will be worst.

Effectiveness in the decision-making model for forest harvesting operations appears under three different contexts:

·       The economic effectiveness asks whether the operation fulfils the economic demands. Like in the example above, the effectiveness describes whether everything that we want to reach will be reached. So, economic effectiveness means functionality, technical coverage…

·       The ecological effectiveness deals with the ecological risks and side-effects of the operations. The drift is towards the optimal solution without any risks or side-effects. We call it ecological compatibility.

·       Also the social effectiveness deals with risks and site-effects, but in this case they are measured against the societal needs. Here we see the disturbance of people who want to recreate in the forest, who look for cultural demands and so on. We call it societal compatibility.

(See more under TDiv PR1-A03)