—ABOUT 10xE—

Factor Ten Engineering (10xE) is an ambitious project undertaken by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to accelerate the reformation of engineering pedagogy and practice. While we believe the target of ten-fold gains in resource productivity is achievable, it is clearly not easy. Such optimization will require original trans-disciplinary thinking and a willingness to question familiar practice.

Real cases are the essential foundation for these shifts. In recent years, RMI has used whole-system thinking in the redesign of close to $30 billion worth of diverse facilities. And while our clients are happy to learn how to create such radically efficient design, seeing the same design errors propagated over and over again mitigates our joy. If the design had been properly done in the first place, such improvements would not be necessary or even possible.

Rather than correcting these errors in minute particulars, it would be far better to change engineering pedagogy and practice so such errors are ultimately extirpated. And to this end, we have undertaken this ambitious 10xE initiative.

Collaborating with the engineering value chain to develop a casebook on integrative design, we plan to equip the next generation of engineers, and retrain the existing ones, with the tools of whole-system design. These whole-system thinkers will then be equipped to develop far more sustainable and profitable solutions, thereby leading the next wave of innovation.

The casebook will highlight the principles of efficient design by comparing breakthrough cases alongside standard-practice cases to show why the former yield such strikingly different results. The design principles will build on each other, so that by the end of the book, the reader’s “mental furniture” will be irreversibly rearranged. Cases will span the range of engineering disciplines and common applications.

Through astonishing but surprisingly clear cases, we aim to bring to firms and classrooms worldwide a sound and compelling pedagogic basis for the nonviolent overthrow of bad engineering.

Related Articles
10xE: Rethinking Engineering, Both Pedagogy and Practice - By Cameron Burns. This article appeared in Rocky Mountain Institute's RMI Solutions newsletter (Spring 2009).

Save more, pay less (PDF-220K) - Imran Sheikh and Amory Lovins chart the next industrial revolution and hope to transform engineering education on the way. This article appeared in the Institution of Chemical Engineers publication The Chemical Engineer (September 2007).

Wanted: Masters of Elegant Frugality (PDF-187K) - To ensure that designs are done correctly the first time, RMI is introducing engineers to new approaches to problem-solving, which are essential to achieving long-term efficiency. RMI wants to reform engineering pedagogy and practice to benefit engineering students, teachers, practitioners, clients, and stakeholders. By Imran Sheikh and Amory B. Lovins. This article appeared in the AIChE publication Chemical Engineering Progress (September 2006).

10xE; 'Factor Ten' and the Nonviolent Overthrow of Bad Engineering (PDF-256K) - Increased resource productivity reduces our ecological footprint, creates wealth and employment, and increases global equity and security. By Andrew Kean. This article appeared in Rocky Mountain Institute's RMI Solutions newsletter (Spring 2004).