- Please note: these are just a few notes from a brief chat with an architect, so shouldn't be taken too seriously! Please remove this note when the accuracy has been checked.
Industrial ecology encompasses design for the environment, including life cycle assessment, from product level to global level.
Industrial symbiosis
Industrial symbiosis is a subset of industrial ecology, with a particular focus on material and energy exchange.
Industrial symbiosis engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products. The keys to industrial symbiosis are collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity” (Chertow, 2000). Such a system collectively optimizes material and energy use at efficiencies beyond those achievable by any individual process alone. IS systems such as the web of materials and energy exchanges among companies in Kalundborg, Denmark have spontaneously evolved from a series of micro innovations over a long time scale (Ehrenfeld and Gertler, 1997); however, the engineered design and implementation of such systems from a macro planner’s perspective, on a relatively short time scale, proves challenging. Often, access to information on available by-products is non-existent. These by-products are considered waste and typically not traded or listed on any type of exchange.
- Chertow, M. R. 2000. Industrial Symbiosis: Literature and Taxonomy, Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 25: 313-337.
- Ehrenfeld, J. and Gertler, N. 1997. Industrial Ecology in Practice: The Evolution of Interdependence at Kalundborg, Journal of Industrial Ecology 1(1): 67.
External links
- There are many links at the Wikipedia article - the links here should possibly serve a different purpose?
- the most cited industrial symbiosis project is http://www.indigodev.com/Kal.html in Denmark. See also http://www.symbiosis.dk/