Effi ciency Animals: Efficiency as an Engineering Value

Abstract

In the literature on the study of engineers and engineering practice, the pursuit of efficiency is often claimed to be a prime directive for engineers. The objective of this chapter is to examine that claim. It starts with an exploration of the concept of efficiency, which has a multitude of meanings, some very technical and precise, and some more broad and equivocal. Some important philosophical distinctions are made, such as between the notions of efficiency as an instrument of conservation and efficiency as an instrument of growth, between efficiency at a micro-scale and efficiency at a macro-scale, and between efficiency and effectiveness. Questions of how the concept of efficiency relates among the arenas of technology, nature, and economics are also addressed.