Industrial Ecology: From Theory To Practice
April 18, 2008 by GREGORY HILTON and NEIL MILLER | Filed under: The EM as an Industrial Ecologist [1]
Industrial Ecology: From theory To Practice by Steven W. Peck
The author of this article describes the concept of “Dematerializing the Economy” and a path of transformation from Industrial Infrastructure to Eco Industrial Infrastructure. The point where using pollution prevention and sustainable technologies is preferred to remediation and abatement technologies. Several examples of developing industrial ecosystems and industrial ecology practices are given.
http://www.newcity.ca/Pages/industrial_ecology.html
I liked how Steven Peck explained Industrial Ecology in the “A New Manufacturing Paradigm” section:
“It emphasizes the establishment of public policies, technologies and managerial systems which facilitate and promote production in a more co-operative manner. Implementing industrial ecology involves such things as life cycle analysis, closed loop processing, reusing and recycling, design for environment and waste exchange. Technologies and processes that maximize economic and environmental efficiency are referred to as eco-efficiency.”
He also explained, very well, what needs to happen to get to the end goals (“all process systems and equipment, and plant and factor design, will eventually be fully compatible with existing industrial ecosystems as a matter of course.”)
The time line (Figure 2: The Emergence of an Eco-Industrial ) helped get an idea of the steps aswell! Thanks for posting Greg.