April 14, 2008 by
NEIL MILLER | Filed under: The EM as an Industrial Ecologist [1]
I have mentioned this paper in a previous post, but I believe it is a great resource for the discussion topic.
Here are some selected definitions of Industrial Ecology, which should be able to give someone a good idea of what this topic is all about. The main paper describes the background of industrial ecology, defines its main attributes, and puts it in the perspectives of an academic discipline and a field of ecology. Covers goals, key concepts, sustainable development, system tools (life cycle design, life cycle assessment, and design for environment), and future needs. It also lists a summary of definitions found from a variety of books and publications.
Garner, Andy and Keoleian, Gregory. “Industrial Ecology: An Introduction” National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education. November, 1995. University of Michigan, Center for Sustainable Systems. April 4th, 2008. http://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resources/compendia/INDEpdfs/INDEintro.pdf
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The idea of an industrial ecology is based upon a straightforward analogy with natural ecological systems. In nature an ecological system operates through a web of connections in which organisms live and consume each other and each other’s waste. The system has evolved so that the characteristic of communities of living organisms seems to be that nothing that contains available energy or useful material will be lost. There will evolve some organism that will manage to make its living by dealing with any waste product that provides available energy or usable material. Ecologists talk of a food web: an interconnection of uses of both organisms and their wastes. In the industrial context we may think of this as being use of products and waste products. The system structure of a natural ecology and the structure of an industrial system, or an economic system, are extremely similar.
— Robert A. Frosch, “Industrial Ecology: Philosophical Introduction,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 89 (February1992): 800–803.
Somewhat teleologically, “industrial ecology” may be defined as the means by which a state of sustainable development is approached and maintained. It consists of a systems view of human economic activity and its interrelationship with fundamental biological, chemical, and physical systems with the goal of establishing and maintaining the human species at levels that can be sustained indefinitely, given continued economic, cultural, and technological evolution.
— Braden Allenby, “Achieving Sustainable Development Through Industrial Ecology,” International Environmental Affairs 4, no.1 (1992).
Industrial Ecology is a new approach to the industrial design of products and processes and the implementation of sustainable manufacturing strategies. It is concept in which an industrial system is viewed not in isolation from its surrounding systems but in concert with them. Industrial ecology seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin material to finished material to component, to product, to waste products, and to ultimate disposal. . . . Characteristics are:(1) proactive not reactive, (2) designed in not added on,(3) flexible not rigid, and (4) encompassing not insular.
— L.W. Jelinski, T. E. Graedel, R. A. Laudise, D. W.McCall, and C. Kumar N. Patel, “Industrial Ecology: Concepts and Approaches,” Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, USA 89 (February 1992).
The idea of an industrial ecology is based upon a straightforward analogy with natural ecological systems. In nature an ecological system operates through a web of connections in which organisms live and consume each other and each other’s waste. The system has evolved so that the characteristic of communities of living organisms seems to be that nothing that contains available energy or useful material will be lost. There will evolve some organism that will manage to make its living by dealing with any waste product that provides available energy or usable material. Ecologists talk of a food web: an interconnection of uses of both organisms and their wastes. In the industrial context we may think of this as being use of products and waste products. The system structure of a natural ecology and the structure of an industrial system, or an economic system, are extremely similar.
— Robert A. Frosch, “Industrial Ecology: Philosophical Introduction,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 89 (February1992): 800–803.
Somewhat teleologically, “industrial ecology” may be defined as the means by which a state of sustainable development is approached and maintained. It consists of a systems view of human economic activity and its interrelationship with fundamental biological, chemical, and physical systems with the goal of establishing and maintaining the human species at levels that can be sustained indefinitely, given continued economic, cultural, and technological evolution.
— Braden Allenby, “Achieving Sustainable Development Through Industrial Ecology,” International Environmental Affairs 4, no.1 (1992).
Industrial Ecology is a new approach to the industrial design of products and processes and the implementation of sustainable manufacturing strategies. It is a concept in which an industrial system is viewed not in isolation from its surrounding systems but in concert with them. Industrial ecology seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin material to finished material to component, to product, to waste products, and to ultimate disposal. . . . Characteristics are:(1) proactive not reactive, (2) designed in not added on,(3) flexible not rigid, and (4) encompassing not insular.
— L.W. Jelinski, T. E. Graedel, R. A. Laudise, D. W.McCall, and C. Kumar N. Patel, “Industrial Ecology: Concepts and Approaches,” Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, USA 89 (February 1992).
Industrial ecology is the means by which humanity can deliberately and rationally approach and maintain a desirable carrying capacity, given continued economic, cultural, and technological evolution. The concept requires that an industrial system be viewed not in isolation from its surrounding systems, but in concert with them. It is a systems view in which one seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin material, to finished material, to component, to product, to waste product, and to ultimate disposal. Factors to be optimized include resources, energy, and capital.
—Braden Allenby and Thomas E. Graedel,Industrial Ecology (New York: Prentice Hall,1993; pre-publication edition).
Industrial ecology provides for the first time a large scale, integrated management tool that designs industrial infrastructures “as if they were a series of interlocking, artificial ecosystems interfacing with the natural global ecosystem.” For the first time, industry is going beyond life-cycle analysis methodology and applying the concept of an ecosystem to the whole of an industrial operation, linking the “metabolism” of one company with that of another.
— Paul Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce(New York: HarperBusiness, 1993).
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