INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
Introduction – Principles – Definitions
Sustainability
Sustainability is often on people’s lips nowadays. Everybody seems to have an idea
of what it means, and yet it is an elusive concept. Before giving some definition, let
us search for what it includes.
For one, sustainability is about the future, making sure that humanity does not follow a
path to crisis and doom. We need to take responsibility for our actions toward future
generations, and with this responsibility comes a moral imperative. In other words,
sustainability is a good to be sought, and not just for us but also for our children and
beyond.
Sustainability is also about the environment. None of our activities would be
sustainable if it led to environmental demise. So, in sustainability is contained another
responsibility, that toward nature. It includes operating within the limits imposed on us
by the environment.
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Assembling the pieces, we see that the concept of Sustainability implicates our actions,
future generations, the environment, responsibility, and limits.
The challenge before us is to identify, and engage in, those responsible actions that
make the environment an integral part of our economy and respect environmental limits,
so that we and future generations can continue to live on this spaceship called Earth.
My favorite definition of sustainability:
"Sustainability is the ultimate relation of action and consequence."
(Kirsten Childs, in Sustainable Architecture - White Papers, 2004)
We have come to realize that
our ways of life are
un
su
st
ai
na
bl
e.
Therefore,
“If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”
Jules B. LaPidus, President of the Council of Graduate Schools
in 1998 (said in a different context)
In other words, we have no choice. Something’s got to change!
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Demand on resources
A thought to ponder...
On the eve of Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi was interviewed by a British
journalist, who asked him whether independent India could follow the British model of
industrial development. Gandhi, in his famous response, said:
“It took Britain half the planet’s resources to achieve its level of prosperity.
How many planets would India require for its development?”
And, there is the “Factor 10”:
- Population is expected to double before it levels off → Factor 2
- If everybody in the world aspires to the American standard of living, the rate of
resource consumption would have to quintuple (assuming constant ratio between
economic activity and material consumption) → Factor 5
2 x 5 = 10
Thus, one can expect a ten-fold increase in demand for resources.
Yet, our mining activities already span the entire planet. So what should be done?
Definition of carrying capacity
"The maximum rate of resource consumption and waste discharge that can be sustained
indefinitely in a given region without progressively impairing the functional integrity and
productivity of the relevant ecosystems."
(Paul L. Bishop, in Pollution Prevention: Fundamental and Practice, 2000, page 574)
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Starting with Carrying Capacity
For natural ecosystems, Sustainability can be defined as the carrying capacity,
that is, the amount of use that can be sustained over time without degradation of
the system.
A typical example is pasture land: Without fertilizer, a 40-hectare (100-acre) pasture
can sustain no more than about 80 dairy cows. More cows would consume grass at a
rate faster than soil can regenerate it by natural growth.
Exceeding the carrying capacity leads to a collapsed system, bare land and dead cows.
Two aspects of Sustainability
1) Not the same as carrying capacity.
Carrying capacity is a static concept that fits non-evolving or slowly-evolving ecological
systems.
Human activities progress by successive inventions on a relatively short time scale.
Problems due to excess are not generally solved by reduction but are most often
overcome by new tools and new resources.
As the proverb goes: “Necessity is the mother of all inventions.”
This leads to the concept of Sustainable Development.
2) Three-pronged approach.
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Alternative illustration: A three-strand braid going on for ever
For how long?
Time
Yet, one more way of looking at the three ingredients:
as poles in tension
ECONOMIC
FACTOR
SCIENCE
TRADE
OFF
TECH
SOCIOCULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL
FACTOR FACTOR
(Adapted from Figure 1.1 of
F. Giudice, G. La Rosa & A. Risitano, Product Design for the Environment, Wiley, 2006)
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Achieving sustainability requires staying within the carrying capacity.
The big question is: What is the carrying capacity of Planet Earth?
There is unfortunately no direct answer. Planetary carrying capacity is nearly impossible
to define because of human creativity: Past excesses have generally not been solved
by reduction but most often by the invention of new technologies or use of new resources.
In other words, instead of staying under the limits, we have constantly pushed the limits
upward.
Examples
- The bronze age followed the stone not for lack of stones!
- It was predicted in the 1890s that New York City could not grow any larger
because horse manure could not be removed from the streets any faster.
(One New York prognosticator of the 1890s concluded that by 1930 the horse droppings would rise
to Manhattan’s third-story windows.)
This lack of precise knowledge of planetary capacity leads to the concepts of
Ecofootprint and Sustainable Development,
to supersede Sustainability as a static concept.
Ecological Footprint
How do we know whether we are operating within the carrying capacity of our ecosystem
Earth? One way to find out is to see how much we use and compare it to what is
available. In doing so, we face an immediate problem, for we use all kinds of different
things, air, water, foods of many types, metals, and on and on.
How can we sum all these apples and oranges?
The ecological footprint is a way to systematize the computation. It reduces all our
consumption to the land surface that is needed to produce it. For example,
- The footprint associated with frequent eating of meat that is locally grown is 1.32
hectares (3.26 acres), more for meat that needs to be shipped in from some distance
away,
- Driving an average car for 240 km (150 miles) per week is equivalent to 0.88 hectares
(2.16 acres), counting where the materials came from to manufacture the car, the
share of highway and parking spaces, where the fuel comes from, etc.
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Land type Equivalence Biocapacity Biocapacity
factor (hectare/person) (acre/person)
Arable (crops) 2.2 0.51 1.31
Pasture 0.5 0.26 0.67
Forest 1.3 0.83 2.12
Built-up 2.2 0.10 0.25
Sea 0.4 0.15 0.35
Total: 1.84 hectares 4.7 acres
per person per person
(Source: Jim Merkel “Radical Simplicity”, 2003)
If we divide the total productive surface on the earth by the population, we arrive at 1.84
hectares (4.7 acres) per person. Anybody who uses more is either depriving someone else or
contributing to irreversible damage on Earth.
Footprints of individuals, groups and even nations have been calculated. A finding is that the
wealthier the group, the larger the footprint. This is because wealth and consumption are
closely related. The general rule is that people in industrialized nations consume 5 to 10 times
more than people in poor countries.
See how you are doing…
http://www.ecologicalfootprint.org/Global%20Footprint%20Calculator/GFPCalc.html
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
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Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooops!
(http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=maps)
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Sustainable Development
Because sustainability is so hard to define in the presence of human progress, we can
approach the concept by not defining Sustainability per se but Sustainable Development.
In 1987, the Brundtland Commission -- named for its chairwoman, Gro Harlem Brundtland,
then Prime Minister of Norway, was one of several unofficial international entities which
prepared the way for the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio
de Janeiro in 1992. It made the claim:
"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable -- to ensure that it
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."
In this definition, which sounds more like a declaration, note the words:
“has the ability” → reflects optimism, even certainty.
“needs” (twice) → refers to necessities of life, such as shelter, food and basic health
care, not whims and wants.
“compromising” → there are limits.
What Sustainable Development entails
Like sustainability, sustainable development can mean different things to different people.
There is no universally accepted definition, but the following elements are regarded by
essential by most people.
1. Systems view – Integrative approach
2. Environment alongside social welfare and the economy (Triple Bottom Line)
3. Recognition of limits
4. Regenerative systems – Waste of a process to become food for another
5. Use of planetary resources at a rate below regeneration
6. Local production to the extent possible
7. Long-term view – Obligation to future generations
8. Precautionary approach
9. Respect of biological and cultural diversity
10. Social equity
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So, the goal is to achieve Sustainability.
But how?
Nature shows us a way: Natural Ecosystems are sustainable.
IDEA: Let’s try to imitate nature and strive to make our industrial systems work in
the manner of natural systems.
In other words, let’s engage in BIOMIMICRY (imitation / copying of nature).
This is the objective of Industrial Ecology, to render our industrial systems sustainable
by making them obey the laws of nature.
Note that Industrial Ecology is one way of working toward Sustainability.
There is no proof that it is the only way. For example, the Clinton White House and the
US Business Council for Sustainable Development have advocated “eco-efficiency”,
meaning “adding maximum value with minimum resource use and minimum pollution.
William McDonough has criticized this approach as “getting better at doing the wrong
thing.”
Nature consists of a number of systems called “spheres”:
- The atmosphere (air and what is in it)
- The hydrosphere (water in its liquid form)
- The lithosphere (land, rocks and below)
- The biosphere (all the living organisms)
To this, we now add the anthroposphere, the human system, which includes:
- The built environment (buildings, roads, and other infrastructure)
- Agriculture (also called the Primary Sector)
- The manufacturing industry (also called the Secondary Sector)
- The service industry (also called the Tertiary Sector)
- Energy production infrastructure (power plants)
This anthroposphere includes:
- Materials (raw materials, processed materials, products, solid waste) Each bound by a
- Energy consumption (fossil fuels, nuclear, renewable forms of energy) conservation principle
- Information (knowledge, inventions, communications, etc.) unlimited supply and growing
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Let’s now contrast the way our present industrial systems behave in
comparison with natural systems. In other words, we ask the question:
How far are we from having sustainable systems?
List characteristics of natural systems (at least 5 attributes).
Then list the corresponding characteristics of our industrial systems.
Natural Systems: Industrial Systems:
- No waste – Closing of materials loops - Much waste – Few materials loops closed
The waste of a process is the food of Many resources are extracted from the
another activity environment and degraded forms of
materials are returned to the environment
- Materials are metabolized
- Materials undergo transformations
- Use of energy at low temperatures,
near thermodynamic reversibility; - Use of energy at high temperatures,
parcimonious use of energy away from thermodynamic reversibility;
inefficient use of energy
- No central control - Weak central control
(free market tempered by some regulations)
- Great diversity of species and - Moderate diversity of activities and
redundancy redundancy (competition)
- Nonlinearities in behavior - Nonlinearities in behavior
(live or die) (make a profit or go out of business)
ensure adaptability
and resilience
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How natural ecosystems work
Either looking at
a single substance
Or looking at
populations
A typical industrial system
Example
Generic view
… a one-way, open system !
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A progressive path toward a sustainable
industrial system
What imitation
of nature
should look like
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… and industry may be
intertwined with nature,
as is already the case for
Sulfur.
A natural ecosystem:
Usually quite complex and
with many actors and
relations
What about industry?
How do industrial systems
compare to natural systems?
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A better industrial system
Connectance level C:
number of actual links L 2L L = number of links
C S = number of species
total possible number of links S ( S 1) / 2 S ( S 1)
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THE BASIS OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
The Four Laws of Ecology
(Barry Commoner, 1971, 33-48)
1. Everything is connected to everything else.
2. Everything must go somewhere.
3. Nature knows best.
4. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
The equivalent of Commoner's "laws" for sustainability in industry are:
Eco-Industrial Principles and Industrial Ecology
1. Industry is an interrelated system of extraction, production, distribution,
consumption and disposal.
2. Industrial production must be subject to "life-cycle analysis" so as to identify
materials pathways (Industrial Metabolism).
3. The natural world is a source of models of efficiency and of renewable energy
and resources.
4. Finite resources must be returned, recycled, reclaimed and/or reused
in order to close materials cycles and minimize energy consumption.
Implications of Sustainability for Industrial Ecology
1. Not using renewable resources faster than they are replenished
2. Not using non-renewable, non-abundant resources faster than
substitutes can be found.
3. Not releasing waste faster than the planet can assimilate them.
4. Not significantly depleting the diversity of life on the planet.
“The fundamental task of Industrial Ecology is to … match the inputs and
outputs of the man-made world to the constraints of the biosphere.”
(Ernest Lowe, “Industrial Ecology – An organizing framework for environmental management,
Total Quality Environmental Management, 73-85, Autumn 1993)
“The economy is a subsystem of the biosphere, not the other way around.”
(David Orr, “Shelf Life”, Conservation Biology, Volume 23, No. 2, 2009, quoting Herman Daly )
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More definitions of INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
Tibbs (1992) & Ehrenfeld (1994):
Graedel & Allenby (1995):
1. Improving metabolic pathways (ex: less solvant)
2. Dematerializing the output (ex: lighter product) “Industrial Ecology is the science of Sustainability.”
3. Systematizing patterns of energy use
4. Balancing industrial in/output with natural capacity 1. Optimization of resources
5. Creating loop-closing practices (less consumption, less waste)
6. Aligning policy 2. Optimization of energy
7. Creating new structures and new linkages 3. Optimization of capital (human and monetary)
Lowe (1993):
O’Rourke, Connelly & Koshland (1996):
IE = recognition that industrial systems are natural systems
IE’s toolbox: 2 principal goals in IE:
1. Closing loops
1. Toward zero waste 2. Paradigm shift
2. Design for Environment (DFE) (in our view of industry/nature relation)
3. Industrial metabolism (IM)
[= big-view approach to materials/energy flows] 2 strategies in IE:
4. Management at the industry/nature interface 1. Getting the information right
5. Creation and exploitation of information (ex: LCA, ecofeedback)
2. Getting the price right
(ex: Total cost accounting)
Frosch (1994):
IE = force to change from a linear-open system toward a
cyclical-closed system
Barriers to IE: 1. Technical hurdles
2. Insufficient information
3. Organizational obstacles
4. Regulatory issues and legal concerns
http://industrialecology.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) architects
developed the ultimate tree house – a very unique home
that is built from 100% living nutrients including soy-based
plastic windows. The building utilizes gray water biological
filtration, and the sun for both ventilation and hot water.
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