Introduction to Industrial Ecology

The environmental problems created by industry stem primarily from the use of a strictly linear production process: extracting raw materials and fossil energy, processing the material and energy, and dumping the waste back into natural systems. In response, an innovative new theory termed Industrial Ecology is emerging to guide firms toward sustainable production.

Industrial Ecology aims to incorporate the cyclical patterns of ecosystems into designs for industrial production processes that will work in unison with natural systems. In a seminal article "Industrial Ecology: An Environmental Agenda for Industry," Hardin Tibbs outlines six principal elements of industrial ecology:

1. Industrial Ecosystems
Fostering cooperation among various industries whereby the waste of one production process becomes the feedstock for another.

2. Balancing industrial input and output to the constraints of natural systems
Identifying ways that industry can safely interface with nature, in terms of location, intensity, and timing, and developing indicators for real-time monitoring.

3. Dematerialization of industrial output
Striving to decrease materials and energy intensity in industrial production.

4. Improving the efficiency of industrial processes
Re-designing production processes and patterns for maximum conservation of resources.

5. Development of renewable energy supplies for industrial production
Creating a world-wide energy system that functions as an integral part of industrial eco-systems.

6. Adoption of new national and international economic development policies
Integrating economic and environmental accounting in policy options.

Yale University's International Society of Industrial Ecology promotes industrial ecology as a way of finding innovative solutions to complicated environmental problems and facilitates communication among scientists, engineers, policymakers, managers, and advocates who are interested in how environmental concerns and economic activities can be better integrated.

National Center for Eco-Industrial Development facilitates job creation and sustainable industrial expansion in distressed communities around the nation by applying principles of industrial ecology, establishing eco-industrial parks, and expanding use of environmentally benign manufacturing processes and techniques.

Zero Emissions Research Initiative seeks to create a new paradigm of sustainable industry by targeting zero gaseous, liquid and solid emissions, and by making Zero Emissions a world-wide industry standard.

The EcoReDesign program established by the Centre for Design at RMIT, an Australian group, is an industry support program aimed at improving the environmental performance of manufactured products for competitive advantage. The program uses a life cycle perspective. Reports and case studies are provided online.

On-line Articles

"Industrial Ecology and the Rediscovery of Inter-Firm Recycling Linkages: Some Historical Perspective and Policy Implications"

"Industrial Ecology: Some Directions for Research"

"A History of Industrial Ecology"

"Strategies for Manufacturing"

"Industrial Ecology: Concepts and Approaches"

On-line Bibliography

National Pollution Prevention Center (NPPC) On-line Industrial Ecology Bibliography
Bibliography of University of Michigan's National Pollution Prevention Center with over 150 references on industrial ecology and related topics. The Center also offers extensive resources for purchase including an annotated bibliography, a compendium of published materials, problem sets, case studies, videos, and syllabi.

Publications

Journal of Industrial Ecology is an international, multi-disciplinary quarterly designed to foster both understanding and practice in the emerging field of industrial ecology. A flyer promoting the journal is available on-line at MIT Press.

The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems, National Academy Press, 1994. ISBN 0-309-04937-7.

Industrial Ecology, Prentice Hall, 1995. ISBN 0-13-125238-0.

Industrial Ecology and Global Change, Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-52-147197-4.

Last updated: May 6, 2004

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