Revolutionizing Ownership: Sustainable Economic Systems and Material Rights

Thomas Rau's revolutionary economic system shifts ownership to a service model, emphasizing sustainability and material rights over disposability and profit.

### Thomas Rau: Pioneering the Ownership-Free Circular Economy
* 🏗 Thomas Rau, ranked third in Trouw's Sustainable Top 100, constructs energy-producing buildings and has devised a revolutionary economic system where **consumers transition from owners to users**.
* 💡 Consumers rent light and cooling instead of purchasing refrigerators or light bulbs, leading providers to offer **long-lasting, energy-efficient solutions**.
* 🏭 This ownership-free model marks a **significant shift** embraced by companies like Philips, Bosch, Schiphol, and BMW.
* 💡 Rau's approach transforms products from solutions to problems, with manufacturers intentionally **shortening lifecycles to drive consumption**.
* 🔄 The solution lies in manufacturing products as services, with Rau's "**paying for lux**" lighting project achieving **30-40% energy savings** in Dutch offices.
* 🌍 Rau's vision extends to creating **material passports for all products**, ensuring they function as **material deposits** and promoting a **circular economy**.
* 👑 Rau advocates for an anthropocentric view where humans, like kings, are the **central point of creation**, but he also emphasizes the need to recognize the **rights of all materials**.
* 🌱 Rau believes that by redefining our relationship with the Earth and transitioning to a circular economy, we are on the brink of an "**existential revolution**" that will fundamentally change everything.

Number three in the Sustainable Top 100 of the newspaper Trouw, Thomas Rau... constructs energy-producing buildings and has created a new economic system... in which the consumer stops being an owner and becomes a user. Refrigerators or light bulbs are not purchased, instead, light and cooling are rented. When the user rents the light, the provider, to maximize profits... provides a long-lasting low-energy bulb. A revolutionary change in direction... in which Philips, Bosch, Schiphol, and BMW have already taken the first steps. This is Tegenlicht. Welcome to the great revolution. The end of ownership. Thomas Rau is an architect. But now, he is here designing a revolutionary economic system. Instead of being disposable, it is sustainable. It goes from wasting energy to having optimal efficiency. It is not the consumer's responsibility to think about the environment, but the manufacturer's. Why? Because this way, they will obtain greater profits. This could disrupt the entire economic system. Its story begins with the birthday of a light bulb. Welcome to Livermore, California... home to the longest-lasting lit bulb in the world. My name is Lynn Owens, president of the Light Bulb Committee. In 1972... we discovered that the light bulb at the fire station... was an important bulb. The light bulb at this fire station has been lit since 1901. Ironically, the bulb has already outlasted two webcams.

In 2001, when the light bulb turned 100 years old, the residents of Livermore threw a big party. American style. We would have been happy if 200 people showed up. And in the end, about 800 or 900 people came. Have you ever seen someone sing Happy Birthday to a light bulb? Never? Well, we did. What is interesting about this documentary? Edison is famous for inventing the light bulb, although there is quite a controversy. In any case, he found a solution. Until that moment, people only used candles and oil lamps. And he invented the light bulb. In the past, products were meant to provide solutions. To make life easier and simpler. And he achieved that with the light bulb. Back then, products aimed to be solutions. We all know those items. I still have tools from my grandparents. And I can still use them. They are in perfect condition. That's why I don't buy more. That's the problem. When a manufacturer creates great products... there comes a point where the market gets saturated with those great products. And what do they do? Stop manufacturing? In the next video, we will see what manufacturers have done... to have a prosperous business model. - Very well. It's him, right? - Yes. Thomas Edison's first light bulb was commercialized in 1881... and had a lifespan of 1500 hours. In 1924, when the Ph

The manufacturers proudly announced 2500 hours, highlighting the longevity of their light bulbs. So Phoebus decided to limit the lifespan of the bulbs to 1000 hours. What he says is very interesting. Limiting the lifespan of the bulb. And thus, they created the 1000-hour life Committee. The goal was to technically limit the bulb's lifespan to 1000 hours. Under the pressure of the cartel, the member companies developed poor-quality bulbs in accordance with the new 1000-hour rule. While in the past, technology was used to create solutions, now we use it to create problems. And this is the problem they have created, that the bulb with an unlimited life breaks at a certain moment. When a bulb breaks, the customer will buy another one. That's the business model. New means it hasn't broken yet. That's the business model. Recently, I spoke with a friend who had a fantastic BMW, and at 220,000 kilometers, the turbo broke. When he took it to the workshop, they said, It took long enough to break. They usually blow up at 160,000 kilometers. Now, products are planned problems, and this is very evident during the warranty period. During the warranty period, the provider knows that nothing will happen and that it will work perfectly. Where is the business in that problem? Two things must be considered. Let's imagine that these are the time axes of two graphs.

A product is manufactured with a specific lifecycle... and, at a certain point, it ends. That is the product lifecycle. But nowadays, nobody cares about lifecycles. The only thing that matters to us is the product's performance cycle. How long will I like it? Think about a mobile phone. Nobody buys an iPhone 6 because their iPhone 5 broke. They say the 6 has more apps and is rounded. Those are just excuses. They encourage us to focus more on performance than on durability. And as a consequence, we are generating more and more waste. However, there are also products that work completely the other way around. Whose lifecycles have been intentionally shortened even though... - The light bulb. Exactly. Even though manufacturers know that consumers would like them to last longer. These are the products that break much sooner. Look at printers. You buy one and it breaks right away. And at the store, they tell you it's normal because you bought it a year ago. It's not worth fixing and it's better to buy a new one. That's how we create waste. We want them to last longer than they do. The real question is what needs to be done to get out of this situation. The solution lies in manufacturing a product as a service, and not as a problem. We all know how it works. Who buys a plane to go to Paris? Can you imagine? Let's buy an A320! It would be

Well, we can do the same with products. One day I proposed it to Philips. I said: I don't want a light bulb, I want light. So I said to them: Come in, let's have a coffee. Leave the boxes outside for now. I want you to give me light. 300 lux for 1260 hours a year. The man was not comfortable. He didn't feel at ease. In reality, you were telling him that you didn't want light bulbs. I think it's great that Philips thinks we need light bulbs to have light. It's their problem. Cry somewhere else. It's not my problem. Well, the system works like this. The manufacturer is the one who decides, not the consumer. The Philips man went to the car... and told me he would think about it. He would think about it on his way to Eindhoven. But then he called me and said: Thomas, I've been thinking about it... and we're going to do it. But without telling my boss. They came back here and told me: We have created a lighting plan. They showed me some light bulbs and said: We need X light bulbs to provide you with the light you need. I said: Great. Thank you very much, but one thing... the electricity bill is your concern. I don't need electricity. It's you who needs electricity, or so I think. If your light

As you can see, what stems from an activity now concerns the manufacturer. He began to pay attention to the number of light bulbs because he had to pay for electricity. Everything that stems from an activity used to fall on the consumer, but in this model, it falls on the supplier. I developed this model with Thomas Rau based on both of our ideas. Paying for lux is a project focused on office lighting. On average, a 30% to 40% savings in office lighting in the Netherlands could be achieved. However, there are offices that could save up to 70%. An office with 100 people would save about 12,000 euros per year. I told Philips that the electricity bill was their concern. But I also don't want to pay for the raw materials of the light bulbs. If you need raw materials to make light bulbs, it's your problem. And suddenly, a light bulb went off for them. They had to change the whole concept of creating a product. And then, everything changed because the rules changed. And did they do it? - They did. We have started a project with Schiphol, which is a very important client... and there we see how simple things can be. Let's imagine that this is a normal LED light bulb. LED light bulbs have a driver that is usually located behind here. If the driver fails, we would have to throw away the entire bulb. That's their idea. Has it broken

Place the driver on the side so that if there is any problem, it can be removed and replaced with a new one for the bulb to work. Because Philips makes money from the rental of the lighting at Schiphol. Schiphol has been paying for lighting for 15 years without paying for the raw materials. And during those years, they have returned the bulbs to Philips, so what Philips does with those bulbs is up to them. Will they give them to a new customer since they have a longer lifespan? Or is it worth dismantling them? But to do something like that, the bulb has to be built considering that the raw materials will have to be extracted. We call them remanufactured products. When you want to reassemble something, nothing should be disassembled; you just put the pieces back together. When you want to do this, you must first think about how to assemble it. Then comes the moment of glory, and a product becomes a service that automatically turns into a deposit of raw materials. Does this also apply to other products? - Yes. The Eigen Haard housing association came to us with another case. They had a problem with the increasing number of people in social housing who were finding it increasingly difficult to pay the rent. Why? Because apparently, the electricity bills were exorbitant. And why? When you don't have many resources, you go to a store that sells relatively cheap devices. And cheap devices turn out to be very poor

Furthermore, they use a lot of energy. These people buy cheap appliances to spend less money... but in the end, they have to pay for it on the electricity bill. I have seen cases where the bill was three times higher than the rent. There are two bills: If they don't pay the rent, they will be evicted within a year... but if they don't pay for the electricity, it will be cut off in a month. So Eigen Haard came to us and said, Can you help us? They had heard about the idea of a service where you don't buy, but pay to use. So, together with Bosch, we started a refrigerator project in Amsterdam. We told the neighbors of Eigen Haard's rentals... that they could pay for a cooling service. Mr. Cadat is an interesting man... I will play the video in the meantime. This is the neighborhood. It was a wonderful idea. Why buy a fridge for 1000 euros... if I can rent the best refrigerator for ten euros a month? They convinced me instantly and it's been two years since I signed up for the project. This project allows people with limited resources... to buy everything and enjoy the benefits... of quality appliances, whether it's a car, a fridge, or a sofa. In seven years, they will take this refrigerator... and the materials and metals it's made of... will return to the earth, back to the manufacturer, Bosch... who will make

This means that the materials the fridge is made of... will be fully reused to make a new refrigerator. He explained it fantastically. He seems very happy. Also, it costs him much less because his bills are cheaper. Is it true? - The fridge has a 3-star rating. They have appliances with the highest energy efficiency... that they could never afford. And now they can use them. We did the same with washing machines. The company was very happy. And the sellers were too. They were going to post it on their website... But then they thought: What will happen when the machine breaks down? To which I replied: You are providing a service to people. So when you can no longer offer it, you will have to fix the appliances. That's a problem, he responded. There lies the key. In three years, the water pump will break, and in five, the door will fall off. In six years, the motherboard will melt. He knows he has created a problem. So he said: We have a washing machine that lasts 15 years. But in the old economic system, it was not profitable for us. However, with this business model, we will start making good products again. Mr. Cadat also said something quite interesting. He said: Those materials will have to return to the earth, to Bosch or to the manufacturer... which makes us certain that we are doing everything wrong. And that is what will

I believe the following video clearly shows the attitude necessary to be able to do things differently. We have to understand. It is recorded in this same studio that we cannot always think in terms of one year. We have to think in terms of 5, 10, 20, or 100 years. I'm going to give you an example of long-term thinking. It's a true story. About 20 years ago, the director of the University of Oxford began to notice that the beams of the University dating back to the year 1460, the huge ceiling beams, were deteriorating. At the University of Oxford, there are many forests, so they called the forester and said, We need oak beams. Do we have oaks? To which he replied, I was hoping you would ask me that question. It turns out that when the university was built around the year 1460, they planted oaks to replace the beams in the future. Now the trees are 500 years old and ready to fulfill their purpose. This is real. Thinking about the future 500 years from now is very forward-thinking. In reality, we don't feel confident enough to do so. We're not even sure that, in 500 years, everything will still be here to plant trees for in 500 years. So we have to start acting as if there will be a future. It says very interesting things, like the oak beams. What if we apply this thinking

I just said that all products become a material deposit. The product reaches the customer as a service as long as they need that service. And, at some point, they will return the product to the manufacturer... who has designed it in such a way that it can be disassembled. So that the materials can be reused. Why is this so important? What usually happens? When we no longer need a product... we stop using it, we throw it away, and create waste. This is where recycling companies come in. Waste does not exist. Is food waste? Well, give it to me. I will make money from what you paid for. Recycling companies say: This is copper... this is glass, and this is lithium. And they are too expensive to throw away. And that's what they do with everything. We throw everything into waste incineration. The Dutch government states that incineration is thermal recycling. And since thermal recycling falls under renewable energies... when we use this type of energy, we constantly lose materials... that will never come back. I would call it a material crematorium because there is no turning back. Our idea is to avoid all of this. In the new economic system, we should not create waste. We can eliminate waste by giving an identity to each material... and documenting it in a kind of material passport. When constructing a building, this passport would also be created... in which each and every material used in the construction of the building

Because when something has an identity, it is never lost. So, is a building a storage of materials? All products are. All of them. Like this laptop. This laptop is a set of organized materials. But it doesn't have a passport. If I knew exactly what it has... and if it were designed for remanufacturing... I could extract each of the materials without creating waste. I wouldn't need a recycling company. This is the new business model. But this affects how a building is constructed. We designed a wooden structure for the Brummen town hall. With wooden beams. It was all designed and made. Suddenly, the wood supplier called me and said, Mr. Rau, I know you don't need it and you won't have to pay for it... but can I make the beams three centimeters higher? I know these beams will have a very high residual value in 20 years. So they will already have a guaranteed use for the next 20 years. And I said, go ahead. Let's make all the beams bigger. Because more is less. And did you have to change the plans? - No, we just made the beams bigger. We didn't pay for it, but the residual value increased by 20%. We have to think about the future, how the value will develop... and what materials we should use to ensure optimal value. And then we have to choose the right path for the materials. We are taking

With material passports. Why a space station? Think about it. Imagine a group of people in a space station. Tonight there's a Champion's game. Let's have a barbecue! But we can't because we forgot to bring the grill. In other words, we can't have what we haven't brought. Like a space station, a closed system. If you don't have something, you don't have it. And you have to be careful not to lose what you have. That is the principle of a space station. This is the starting point of all environmental movements. On December 24, 1968, at 5:32... William Anders looked out the window of his capsule and saw this. He grabbed the camera and took a picture. Suddenly, he became aware of all of humanity. Earth is a spaceship. Just like the space station. And what isn't there, isn't there. And we have to make sure not to lose what we have. I think no one knows what the future holds for us. And without knowing the future, decisions cannot be made. The only possible way is to choose an option in the future... as it is done for a certain period of time. An option is a closed system and I believe it should be organized... so that when it ends, it still has... the same as it had before choosing that option. Because if it's not done like that... we will find ourselves in a possible future that no one knows

It's an old video, but I think it has a clear message. The showman is setting up his attraction. He is setting up the cacharrito, as some call it. The cacharritos are the rides, and the builder is the showman. Imagine if every weekend he had to buy a new attraction. He would go bankrupt before even starting. It doesn't make sense. So, he has to think it through. How to manufacture a removable, mobile, and affordable attraction? He anticipates the fact that it is temporary. Because after a weekend, people get bored and don't come back. Initially, it's like a huge fair, but with a weekend that has been extended a bit. And I think that's how we can do things in the future. We have to become showmen to carry out this concept. Everything will be remanufacturable and will have an identification. Imagine the Earth as a large warehouse. We take elements from this warehouse, from nature... and, as humans, we create a second nature. This second nature must be based on the laws of the first. We are wrong to think that we can ignore the laws of nature. We are not the bosses of nature. Nature is the center of existence. What is not here is not here, and what is spent is lost forever. In a closed system, nothing ever comes back. What remains is ownership. And how will we organize it in the future

To be responsible for something. You have to want to be the manager of something. If on Earth we are guests... the most important quality is our attitude... towards the fact that Earth makes life possible. It's a matter of attitude. And attitude starts with us. And how things would change radically with a different perspective... is what the next video is about. Marina.
- Why do you want to show us this? This is a work of art by Marina.
She sits for 180 days... in the MoMa museum in New York. She sits there for 8 hours a day,
sometimes wearing a red dress... and other times wearing a white dress.
And people can go and visit her. So the perspective
is that people come to her. Some do more things.
Some stay for two minutes... and others stay for 15 minutes.
It depends. Not everyone gets it. In a minute,
something extraordinary is going to happen. A man will approach the table... and since she has her eyes closed,
she doesn't know who the next person will be. So the man approaches. Look at how he sits down,
how he stretches his legs... and how incredibly comfortable
he is sitting at the table. And now look at what happens
when she sees him. He is her ex-partner... whom she hasn't seen in years. Unpleasant things happened.
It's the first time they see each other again. And look at what happens to her. Suddenly,

Until that moment, everyone had turned to her. The perspective has changed. And, consequently, the behavior. And suddenly, everything is different. I just said that no one knows the future. But it may not be true. There is a discipline that may be able to glimpse a part of the future. It doesn't matter if it's intuitive... it's art. And I think we have just seen a part of the future here. Of how we, as humans, should react to things. And that we should completely change our perspective. If we don't understand that we are the guests and not the hosts of the Earth... I think we will have a big problem. How is that reflected in this video? What I intend to show is that the step we should take now... is very simple, but extremely uncomfortable. That woman didn't get excited for no reason. It was a very uncomfortable situation for her. That's why I say it's easy to change the rules, but it's very uncomfortable. And this is understood very well by watching her. But let's get back to my business. Yes, construction. - Construction. It's more than that, but okay. The big question is: How do we apply it? We have talked about light bulbs and refrigerators. About a closed system, temporality, building attractions. And about changing perspective. I'm going to show you something about a project... that we will open in four days. This is the

The Liander branch in Duiven. Here we see that it was a project from 1980 until 2012. The temporality is evident. The work has concluded after 32 years. And then what? Normally, it would be demolished. It would be sent to the material crematorium. Before examining the project, look at this. The amusement park. - Once again, we return to the showman. This project required a roof of 6500 square meters with a huge steel structure covering everything. The usual thing would be to ask a steel supplier. We want a steel roof. Can you do it? How much steel do you need? But it's a question asked to the wrong person. The supplier's business model is to use as much steel as possible. He wants to make money. But our business model is to make a beautiful and safe roof with little steel. So we said, Who can make a roof with few materials... and as safe as possible? Well, it was the amusement park builder. It has to be safe, light, and removable because he has to transport everything, and every extra kilo costs him money. So we visited a guy who builds roller coasters like this... and we asked him, Could you build us a roof like this? The result has been a kind of flat roller coaster. We used 30% less steel... than we would have needed if we had asked the wrong person. This is the building

This is an overhead view. 80% of all materials are in their second life cycle. They are reused materials from old buildings or materials that have been given a new life in this building. This building also has a material passport. This is the first client we know of that has documented the amount of steel or wood their building has. And where? - Yes. In which component, in which product, in which part. Everything has been recorded. Initially, it's a big fair attraction. In 15 years, we will be able to recover every material. Nobody knows if we will still need an energy system. Perhaps we will be able to generate our own. Who can predict the future? Liander says: We will choose an option for the next 15 years. We will see what happens next. The world will change completely. We should only provide options, without real estate. Without real estate? - Exactly. We all believe we have real estate. But if you delve into this thought, the immovable becomes movable. Like a fair attraction. Basically, it is no longer a property because it changes its use. Well, yes and no. Now you are obliged. If I want a laptop, I have to buy one. I have no alternative. It used to be the same with cars. But the younger generation has said: I don't want a car, I want mobility. But there are people whose identity depends on what they own. And they are

That says a lot about us. We have that reflex. We give a status to our life based on what we own. Surely you will remember the story of the Prius from 20 years ago. In Hollywood, everyone had a luxury limousine at home. And suddenly, everyone had the ugliest car of all time. It was the first hybrid car and everyone fell in love with it. To have a certain status in that circle, you had to have a Prius. So, everyone had that ugly car. If ownership is removed... - Yes, social position is lost. And it will be a problem for many. Unless they define their identity... based on who they are and not what they own. Ready for the last video? This is my favorite. It's the best. Here we have the shepherd and the seven golden mirrors. When looking through the mirrors, you get seven different perspectives... between the shepherd and the king. I wanted to create a Royal Palace not to praise the ancient king again... but to express that every human being is a king. The dignity of man lies in his sovereignty. I don't like the materialistic image of humanity. The mystery hidden in a human being, the soul... or the longing of man for his inner god... has been destroyed in this materialistic age. That's why I agree with the anthropological idea... that man must be aware that he is the best being.

And the bearer of the soul. He is the bearer of the soul. It assumes that man is at the center of creation. That man, the most important being of all creation. It is an anthropocentric view of the world, in which man is the central point. But a question arises: Is this correct? Is this the truth? Going back to before... to what we talked about regarding the Earth... I think we should realize... that we can never move outside the context of nature. Even if we don't like gravity, we cannot say, Well, let's get rid of it. It's impossible. And the same goes for the sun. Impossible. Our actions are framed by all the laws of nature. What does not exist, does not exist. That's nature. What is nature? Nature is everything that makes life possible on Earth. What also makes our existence possible. And if we develop this reasoning... everything must have the right... for its life to be possible. Just as we have rights... so does the king. All things have rights. And perhaps it's too much, but we've talked about materials for 45 minutes. Do they also have rights? I believe they do. At Turntoo, we have worked... for the universal rights of materials... by analogy to human rights. Can we create a universal declaration... of the rights of materials? And by analyzing it, we realize... that the consequence of such a thing... is that nothing

We often see, as I said before, that human rights violations are always linked to those of nature. If we give rights to nature, we will contribute to human rights. If materials were to become a service, it would affect the working conditions of children and people working in mines. It would be an automatic effect. I believe that the rights of materials, not those of humans, are at the center of everything. In that case, it would not be about any madness. But I think we are at a historical moment where we have to redefine our relationship with the Earth. We are not on the verge of another industrial revolution, but on the eve of an existential revolution. Everything is going to change. And the economy will become the symbol of the relationship between humanity and the Earth. In that relationship, everything should be balanced reciprocally and respectfully.

The End of Ownership - VPRO documentary - 2015

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vpro documentary

Thomas Rau: Revolutionizing Ownership and Sustainability

Thomas Rau is transforming the economic system by shifting consumers from owners to users, introducing a model where light and cooling are rented instead of being purchased.

This revolutionary approach focuses on optimal efficiency and places the responsibility of environmental impact on manufacturers to maximize profits.

Rau's concept challenges the traditional business model of creating planned obsolescence, highlighting the shift from using technology to solve problems to creating them, ultimately disrupting the entire economic system.

Shifting from Product Lifecycle to Performance Cycle

Nowadays, the focus has shifted from the product lifecycle to the product's performance cycle, leading to increased waste generation.

The intentional shortening of lifecycles by manufacturers contributes to this waste.

The solution lies in a new model where products are offered as a service, as demonstrated by the lighting plan project with Philips, resulting in significant cost savings and a shift in responsibility from the consumer to the supplier.

The Shift from Buying to Renting: A Sustainable Business Model

A partnership between Philips and Schiphol involves renting lighting, leading to the return and potential remanufacturing of the bulbs.

The concept of paying for a service, rather than buying, has been applied to refrigerators and washing machines in Amsterdam, allowing people with limited resources to access high-quality appliances.

This new business model not only benefits the customers in terms of cost but also promotes sustainability through the reuse of materials and the production of longer-lasting products.

The Importance of Long-Term Thinking and Sustainable Material Use

The University of Oxford's 500-year-old oak beams demonstrate the value of long-term planning and sustainability.

Shifting to a new economic system that prioritizes material reuse and a "material passport" can eliminate waste and the need for recycling companies.

Designing products and buildings for remanufacturing can increase their residual value and contribute to a more sustainable future.

The Principle of a Space Station and Its Environmental Message

The principle of a space station as a closed system is the foundation of all environmental movements, emphasizing the importance of conserving what we have.

The concept advocates for making sustainable choices and being responsible for the resources we use.

Marina's art piece highlights the impact of a different perspective, showcasing how unexpected encounters can evoke powerful emotions and reactions.

A woman's uncomfortable reaction in a video prompts a call for a change in perspective in how humans interact with the Earth.

The speaker discusses a construction project that took a unique approach by involving an amusement park builder to create a roof with minimal steel, emphasizing the importance of using fewer materials for safety and cost efficiency.

The project's innovative construction method resulted in a 30% reduction in steel usage, showcasing a different way of approaching building design.

The Sustainable Building with Reused Materials

The building uses 80% materials in their second life cycle, including those from old buildings and new sources.

It has a documented material passport, recording the amount and location of all materials used.

The project aims to provide options for the future, potentially generating its own energy, challenging traditional notions of real estate and ownership.

Rethinking Humanity's Relationship with Nature

The anthropocentric view considers man as the center of creation, but the speaker emphasizes that human existence is framed by the laws of nature.

They advocate for the universal rights of materials, believing that by giving rights to nature, human rights will also be upheld.

The speaker argues that redefining the relationship with the Earth is crucial, marking the dawn of an existential revolution.