industrial ecology- environmental agenda for industry

7/30/2019 Industrial Ecology- Environmental Agenda for Industry

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Industrial

EcologyA n EnvironmentalA genda forIndustry

Hardin T ibbs

G L O B A L

B U S I N E S S

N E T W O R K


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Industrial Ecology 1

Industrial

Ecology

A n Environmental

A genda for

Industry

Hardin T ibbs

G L O B A L

B U S I N E S S

N E T W O R K


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2 Global Bu siness Netw ork

Foreword

This paper focuses on in dustria l ecology, a subject just em erging a s a distinct discipline.

Althou gh still in its early stages, it show s promise as an effective framew ork for ad-

dressing and int egrating the very w ide range of environmen tal issues facing both

business and gov ernment toda y. While the practical implementation of this thinking

lies some w ay in t he future, th e overview presented here shou ld be of considerable

interest to all those w ith a professiona l involvem ent in environmen tal man agemen t

and environmental policy-making.

The a uth or of th is paper, Hardin Tibbs, is a senior sta ff mem ber of Globa l Busin ess

Netw ork.

Printed on recycled paper.

Copy right 1993, Hardin B . C. Tibbs. All rights reserved.

An earlier version of th is paper w as published by Arthu r D. Little, Inc. in 1991.

The Cover

The cover image show s a Mobius strip, formed by m aking a loop w ith a single tw ist in

it. Its special property is that it ha s only on e surfacea line draw n a long it w ill ulti-

mately return to its starting point, having travelled the full length of both sides of the

paper.


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Managing for the Global Environmenta Complex Challenge

Operating on a global scale brings problems at a global level. The environm ental issues

now facing industry are no longer focused simply on local toxic impactsalthough

these remain potentially serious. There are now unin tended effects on the tota l global

environment, of w hich global w arming and ozone depletion may be only the most

visible of a m ultitude of a dverse sym ptoms.

The emerging environm ental cha llenge requires a techn ical and ma nagem ent approach

capable of addressing problems of global scope. By contrast, the en vironmen tal agenda

of compan ies today is frequen tly driven by a list of individual issues because there is no

accepted overall framew ork to shape comprehensive programs.

Corporate environm ental a gendas typically list goals such a s eliminatin g the use of

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), promoting recycling, increasing energy efficiency, a nd

minimizing the production of ha zardous w aste. The q uestion is w hether th is kind of

action list goes far enough in dealing w ith un derlying causes, or w hether it is largely

treating symptom s. Will it protect business against furth er environm ental surprises?

In its complexity, the global env ironm ental problem-set somew ha t resembles an

icebergw ell-publicized environm ental problems are th e visible one-tenth above the

surface. We still know too little about t he ada ptive capacity of the n atu ral environmen t

as a w hole to predict confidently how it will react to continuing indu strialization. If the

iceberg suddenly rolls over, it could expose problems that the a verage business is qu ite

unprepared for.

Effective defense against this uncertainty w ill be based on th e recognition of a key

principle. The ultim ate driver of th e global environ men tal crisis is ind ustrializat ion,

w hich mea ns significan t, systemic indu strial chan ge w ill be una voidable if society is to

elimina te the root causes of environmen tal da ma ge. The resulting program of business

chan ge w ill ha ve to be based in a fa r-sighted conceptual fram ew ork if it is to ensure the

long-term viability of industrialization, a nd implementa tion w ill need to begin soon.

The a im of this paper is to introduce a nd discuss the concept of ind ustrial ecology a s the

best available candidate for th is needed conceptua l framew ork. In essence, industrialecology involves designing indu strial infrastructures as if they w ere a series of inter-

locking man -made ecosystems interfacing w ith the n atura l global ecosystem. Indu strial

ecology takes the pattern of the natural environment as a model for solving environ-

ment al problems, creating a new paradigm for t he indu strial system in th e process. This

is biomimetic design on the la rgest scale, and represents a decisive reorienta tion from

conq uering naturew hich w e have effectively already doneto cooperating w ith it.

The time is right for th e adoption of such a n a pproach. Environm ental concern is no

Industrial Ecology:An Environmental Agenda for Industry

Industrial ecology involves

designing industrial

infrastructures as if they

were a series of

interlocking ecosystems.


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longer a fringe preoccupation, bu t now enjoys broad social recognition an d popular

support. G overnm ent env ironment al legislation is becoming increasingly stringent, an d

the media frequently act as environmental proponents in reporting environmental

dam age. As a result, major compan ies are beginn ing to react with w ha t has been called

corporate environmentalism. And this, in turn, is creating the need for a means of

orienting strategy, m anagement, and technology in an emerging w orld of environmen-

tally-aw are bu siness practice.

A Conceptual Model for Systemic Change

The problem of localized environm enta l impacts has been w ell und erstood for m an y

years, and industry and regulatory authorities have evolved procedures for minimizing

classic environmen tal problems such a s local emission o f toxic polluta nts. B ut th e scale

of industrial production is now so great th at even n orma lly nontox ic emissions, like

carbon dioxide, ha ve become a serious threat to th e global ecosystem. Seen in its

broadest terms, the problem for ou r industrial system is tha t it is steadily grow ing larger

in comparison w ith the na tural environm ent, so that its outputs are reaching levels

tha t are dam aging because of their sheer volume, regardless of w heth er they are

traditional pollutan ts or no t. The relative scale of the industrial system is remarkable:

the industrial flow s of nitrogen and sulfur are equiva lent to or greater than the na tural

flow s, and for meta ls such as lead, cadmium , zinc, arsenic, mercury, nickel, an d van a-

dium, th e industrial flow s are as much a s twice the natu ral flowsand in the case of

lead, 18 times greater.1 The na tural environ ment is a brillian tly ingenious an d ada ptive

system, but th ere are undou btedly limits to its ability to a bsorb vastly increased flow s of

even na turally a bundant chemicals and remain the friendly place we call home.

The scale of indu strial production w orldw ide seems set for inexorable grow th. All

countries clearly aim to a chieve the levels of ma terial prosperity enjoyed in th e West,

an d they int end to do it by indu strializing. Since their wish represents market grow th

to w estern compan ies, an d is directly in line with current democratic and econom icrhetoric, it seems politically inevitable. Indeed, leaving aside environm ental con cerns,

simple equity a rgues that it is also mo rally una voidable. We are w itnessing the evolu-

tion of a fully industrialized w orld, w ith global indu strial production, global markets,

global telecomm unications h ighw ays, an d global prosperity. This prospect brings the

realization th at current patterns of industrial production w ill not be adeq uat e to sustain

environm entally safe grow th on such a scale and are therefore all but obsolete.

The cha llenge stems from th e fact th at w e are constructing an artificial global system

w ithin a preexisting nat ural one. It is easy to forget tha t the industrial system as a

w hole, as it is now structured, depends on a hea lthy na tural global ecosystem for its

functioning. While the indu strial system w as small, w e regarded the natu ral global

ecosystem a s limitlessly va st. As a result w e treated the fu nctioning of th e natu ralsystem as irrelevant to our industrial operations. But the continuing expansion of the

w orldw ide industrial system w ill oblige us to reconsider this view.

The solution w ill be an a pproach that a llows the tw o systems to coexist witho ut

threat ening each others viability. Natu re is the u ndisputed ma ster of complex systems,

and in our design of a global industrial system w e could learn much from the w ay the

na tural global ecosystem functions. In doing so, w e could not only im prove the effi-

ciency of industry but also find more acceptable w ays of interfacing it w ith nat ure.

The move to worldwide

industrializat ion means that

current patterns of

industrial production are all

but obsolete.


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Future industrialsystem based onecological principles(cyclic flow systemwith fully internalizedenvironmental costs)

$M arketdomain

Linear flowpattern ofexistingindustrial

system

$

Indeed, th e most effective w ay of doing th is is probably to m odel the systemic design of

industry on the systemic design of t he n atu ral system. This insight is at th e heart of the

closely related concepts of indu strial ecology, industrial ecosystems, industrial m etabo-

lism, a nd in dustrial symbiosis, all of w hich ha ve been em erging in recent y ears. The

qu estion facing industry is to und erstan d how this thinking might function in practice,

and what implementation would involve.

At the moment, the industrial system is less a system than a collection of linearflow sdraw ing materials and fossil energy from nat ure, processing them for econom ic

value, a nd d um ping the residue ba ck into na ture (see Figure 1). This extra ct an d

dum p pat tern is at the root o f our current environm enta l difficulties. The na tural

environm ent w orks very differently. From its early non -cyclic origins, it ha s evolved

into a truly cyclic system, endlessly circulating and transforming materials, and manag-

ing to run almo st entirely on am bient solar energy. There is no reason w hy t he interna-

tional econom y could not be reframed a long these lines as a continuou s cyclic flow of

ma terials requiring a significantly low er level of energy input, a nd a vastly low er level

of raw materials input from, and w aste output to, the n atural environment. Such a

cyclic economy w ould not be limited in terms of the economic activity an d grow th it

could generate, but it w ould be limited in terms of the input of new ma terials an d

energy it required.

There are m an y cha racteristic features of the n atura l global ecosystem tha t could

usefully be emulated by industry:

In the natural system there is no such thing as w aste in the sense of something that

cann ot be absorbed constructively somew here else in the system. (An exam ple: carbon

dioxide exhaled by a nima ls is absorbed by plan ts as a feedstock for photo synth esis.)

Figure 1:

Economic value

generation and the

underlying pattern of

materials flow

There are many

characteristic features

of the natural global

ecosystem that could

usefully be emulated

by industry.


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Life-giving nutrients for one species are derived from the death an d decay of a nother.

(Bacteria and fungi in soil break down animal an d plant w astes for use by grow ing

plants.)

Concentrated toxins are not stored or transported in bulk at the system level, but are

synth esized and used as needed only by th e individuals of a species. (Snake ven om is

produced in glands immediately beh ind the sna kes teeth.)

Materials and energy are continually circulated and transformed in extremely

elegan t w ays. The system runs entirely on am bient solar energy, and over time ha s

actua lly man aged to store energy in the form of fossil fuel. (The cycling of nitrogen

from the atmosphere into protein and back again to the atmosphere is accomplished by

an intricate chain of bacterial, plant and animal metabolism.)

The natural system is dynam ic and information-driven, and the identity of ecosystem

players is defined in pro cess terms. (The m etabo lic and in stinctive a ctivity o f species is

coded in their DNA and shapes much beha vior in ecosystems, w hich can be view ed as

systems for transforming chemicals and en ergy.)

The system permits independent activity on the part of each individua l of a species,

yet cooperatively meshes the a ctivity patterns of all species. Cooperation an d competi-

tion a re interlinked, h eld in bala nce. (The beh av ior of species in ecosystem s is mo dified

in an in teractively choreographed flow of responses to the a vailability of food, v aria-

tions in seasonal clima te, the imm igration of new species, etc. Com petition for food

resources is often minimized by timesharing or niche adaptation.)

The aim o f industrial ecology is to interpret and ad apt an und erstan ding of the na tural

system and apply it to the design of the man-made system, in order to achieve a

pattern of indu strialization th at is not on ly more efficient, but w hich is intrinsically

adjusted to th e tolerances an d cha racteristics of the n atura l system. The em phasis is on

forms of technology that w ork withnatural systems, not againstthem. An industrialsystem of this type w ill ha ve built-in insuran ce against environm ental surprises,

because their underlying causes will have been eliminated at th e design stage.

Our industrial system ultima tely depends on th e natu ral ecosystem because it is

embedded w ithin it. Our challenge now is to engineer industrial infrastructures that

are good ecological citizens so th at th e scale of industrial activity can continue t o

increase to meet international demand w ithout running into environmental con-

straints, or, put anoth er wa y, with out resulting in a net negative impact on th e quality

of life.

The Business ContextCorporate Environmentalism

The backdrop to industrial ecology is a history of env ironment al debate spann ing tw o

decades or more. Basic environmenta l aw areness wa s established by th e late 1960s,

followin g publication of books such as Rachel Carsons Sil ent Spring,2 and began to

attract serious academ ic attention in th e 1970s. The a pplication of com puter mod elling

to environ menta l issues resulted in th e Limi ts to Growth3 study for the Club of Rome,

and the Global 2000 Report4 to Presiden t Ca rter, wh ich it inspired in the ea rly 1980s. The

essential conclusions of these reports were tha t unch ecked industrial grow th w ould

The challenge now is to

engineer industrial

infrastructures that

are good ecological citizens,

so that the international

demand for

industrializat ion can bemet.


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inevitably lead to significant w orldw ide environm enta l degradation , and tha t serious

consideration m ust therefore be given to curtailing industrial grow th.

This point of view w as not w ithout its critics: the mo st vocal and cogent of th ese w as

probably Herman Kahn, w ho, in his book The Resourcefu l Earth,5 coauthored with Ju lian

Simon, refuted the idea that the earth is as fragile environmentally or as limited in

resources as the earlier analyses had assumed. The n eed for some env ironment al

caution w as accepted, but it w as argued that th e level of public concern w as already at

a level fully a dequ ate to en sure a corrective business response. Indeed, it w as argued,

any extra governmenta l action on the environmentin th e form of added regulatory

burdenran the risk of w eakening the long-term hea lth of the economy a nd detract-

ing more from future w ealth and q uality of life than w ould the postulated environ-

mental deterioration.

Elements from both poles of the argument appear to be converging into a commitment

to action. Industry increasingly accepts the environmental imperative, and has many

programs in place to repair the environmental mistakes of the past. Environmental

regulations have proliferated to become a mature and formidable body of legislation.

The prospect of radical energy efficiency th rough n ew technologies has demon strated

tha t further econom ic grow th ma y indeed be compatible w ith environm ental stability.

At the same tim e, as is made clear in th e recently published book Beyond the Limi ts,6

w ritten by th e original Limits to Growthauth ors, current levels of indu strial throu ghput

are now seriously eating into the environm ents ability to replenish nat ural biological

stocks and neutra lize pollution. And there is generally a cknow ledged evidence of

serious systemic environm enta l damage, w hich only threaten s to get worse. In other

w ords, there actually is an environm ental problem, and th ere is general agreement tha t

something n eeds to be done abou t it. The difficulty is that en vironm ental debat e so far

has been focused on making a case for environmentalism, or arguing against it, and has

not provided industry w ith a clear agenda for positive environm ental response.

An effective environmen tal agenda w ill be one that ind ustry can align w ith easily. In

contemplating significant change, business needs to be able to find common ground

w ith the program of action being proposed. Bu siness, in keeping w ith its entrepreneur-

ial roots, is essentially optimistic and forw ard looking, w ith a preference for action a nd

a w illingness to accept measured risk. It ha s a bias towa rd innova tion, an d a desire for

independence an d leadership. It also prefers an objective tha t can be clearly int erpreted

in ma na gement a nd techn ical terms, an d is compat ible w ith business activity. The ideal

agenda should allow progress to be measured, enh an ce business performa nce, and be

applicable in any industry, permitting alliances and cooperation among corporations

an d between indu stries.

Most existing environmental analysis and commentary has not been framed to incor-porate these attitudes, but th e intent of ind ustrial ecology is to create a com mon cause

betw een industry a nd en vironmenta lism. Ph ilosophically, it is based on a set of implicit

assertions:

With appropriate design, industrial activities can be brought into balance w ith

na ture, and ind ustrial grow th w ith low en vironmen tal impact is possible. As a result,

w e have th e ability to ma ke indu strial development sustainable in the long term, but to

do so w e must a ctively a pply th e appropriate policies and technologies.

An effective environmental

agenda will be one that

industry can align with

easily.


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Figure 2:

Industrial ecology

permits an integrated

managerial and

technological

interpretation

Technology itself is simply an expression of fundam ental hum an curiosity a nd

ingenuity. It is no more intrinsically unnatural than human beings themselves and

w ould merely be reinvented if w e tried to get rid of it. This view a ffirms both technol-

ogy and innovation, but introduces the idea that technology can be designed for

improved social an d environm enta l yield, since it is sha ped by hu ma n decisions.

Today s problems are so complex they can on ly be solved by the creation of future

new nessthere is no w ay back to a supposedly better earlier time. For instance, ifw e chose to stop all use of nuclear pow er, the simple need to keep existing rad ioactive

w aste safe w ould require that w e retain n uclear know -how indefinitely into the future.

The realization tha t environm ental objectives can be compatible w ith continu ed

technological development a nd w ealth creation is a key element in the continuing

evolution of business attitudes tow ard environ menta l issues. It comes as compan ies

ha ve been progressively mo ving from a minima l posture focused on cleaning up past

mistakes to a much more active role that seeks to avoid future environmental errors.

Initially, business had a h ard time taking environ ment alism seriously, and saw the

philosophy u nderpinning it as passive, regressive, an ti-grow th, a nd a nti-techn ology

an attitude that made genuine action on environmental issues almost impossible. Inthe termino logy of strategic planning, th e resulting posture wa s purely reactive. Any

environm ental a ction taken w as largely in response to the pressure of legislation or

public opinion. In its narrow ly-defined desire to defend th e status quo a nd to rema in

profitable, the com pany of yesterday restricted itself to th e minimu m effort n ecessary

to ensure com pliance an d end-of-pipeline clean up. This posture w as intrinsically

vulnerable to un an ticipated risks and un foreseen costs, an d suffered from a n ina bility

to acknow ledge new business opportunities being created by env ironment al concern.

IndustrialEcology

BusinessA pplication

TechnicalO pportunity

Strategy A nalytical Tools Data InputsTechnologyA pplications

Strategic options;Policy

Beyond life cycleanalysis

Ecosystem status;Industrialregularities

D ematerialization;Industrialmetabolism;Energy systems

Industrial ecology implicitly

asserts that industrial

development can be made

sustainable by decoupling

environmental impact from

economic growth.


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The emerging green corporation, on the oth er hand , accepts the environment al

imperative and w illingly assumes the man tle of environmenta l leadership. It adopts a

truly proactive strategic posture, favoring volun tary produ ct and process redesign, as

w ell as the avoidance of pollution and w aste, an d w elcoming cooperation a nd a lliances

w ith other organization s. In short, it takes the long-term view an d addresses environ-

ment al issues by at tacking their root causes. This new outlook ha s been aptly termed

corporate environmentalism, and is founded on the recognition that environmenta l-

ism can be compatible w ith good business an d is essential for bu siness survival.

Industrial ecology gives structure an d consistency to em erging corporate environm ental

conviction. As a fram ew ork for environmen tal strategy, industrial ecology is uniqu ely

able to provide the coordinating vision for effective management planning and techni-

cal implementa tion in tomo rrow s green corporation. It may even evolve into an

intellectual platform tha t w ill frame public environm ental debate. In dustrial ecology

promises to give indu stry the pow er to an ticipate risk and opportunity, to provide real

environm ental leadership, an d to engineer lasting solutions to issues of pressing social

concern.

Industrial Ecology in Detail

Applied industrial ecology is an integrated m ana gement a nd techn ical program (see

Figure 2). On the m an agement side, it offers tools for analysis of the interface betw een

industry and the environment, and provides a basis for developing strategic options and

policy decisions. The a na lytical to ols go beyon d existing Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

meth ods, to the deta iled ma pping of existing indu strial ecosystems an d the pat terns of

industrial meta bolism w ithin ind ustrial processes. These new metho ds are d escribed in

the sections that follow.

Industrial Ecosystems

Policy Innovation

Industrial M etabolism

Biosphere Interface

Dematerialization

Energy Systems

Figure 3:

The principal elements

of industrial ecology

The emerging green

corporation willingly

assumes the mant le of

environmental leadership.


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On th e technical side industrial ecology o ffers specific engineering a nd operational

programs for data gathering, techn ology deployment an d product design. The tech-

niques and technologies of real-time environmental monitoring are becoming increas-

ingly sophisticated, a nd w ill be integrated using informa tion techno logy as a practical

tool for mapping and managing environmental impacts. Process and product design

w ill reflect indu strial ecology th inking from initial design principles to fina l decomm is-

sioning an d d isassembly.

Over time, the application of th ese new tools and techn iques w ill lead to conceptual

an d practical adva nces in at least six a reas (see Figure 3):

1 The creat ion of indust rial ecosystems

Industrial ecosystems are a logical extension o f life-cycle thinking, mov ing from

assessment to implementation . They involve closing loops by recycling, m aking

ma ximum use of recycled materials in new production, optimizing use of materials and

embedded energy, m inimizing w aste generation, and reevaluating w astes as raw

ma terial for other processes. They also imply m ore tha n simple one-dimensional

recycling of a single material or productas w ith, for exam ple, alum inum beverage can

recycling. In effect, they represent mu ltidimensiona l recycling, or th e creation of

complex food w ebs betw een companies an d industries.

A very literal exam ple of this concept is provided by ind ustrial environmen tal coopera-

tion at th e tow n of Ka lundborg, 80 miles west of Copenhagen in Denma rk.7 The

cooperation involves an electric pow er generating plant, an oil refinery, a biotechn ol-

ogy production plan t, a plasterboard factory, a sulfuric acid producer, cement produc-

ers, local agriculture and h orticulture, and d istrict heating in Ka lundborg (see

Figure 4).

In Ka lundborg in the early 1980s, Asnaes, the largest coal-fired electricity generating

plant in Den ma rk, began supplying process steam to th e Statoil refinery a nd th e Novo

Nordisk pha rmaceutical plant. Around the sam e time it began supplying surplus heat toa Kalun dborg district heating scheme tha t has permitted the shut -dow n of 3,500

domestic oil-burning heating systems. Before this, Asna es had been con densing the

steam a nd releasing it into t he local fjord. Fresh w ater is scarce in Ka lundborg an d ha s

to be pum ped from lake Tiss some seven or eight m iles aw ay, so w ater conservation is

important. Sta toil supplies cooling wa ter and purified w aste w ater to Asnaes, w hich

w ill soon also use purified w aste w ater from Novo Nordisk.

Gy proc, the w allboard producer, ha d been buy ing surplus gas from the refinery since

the ea rly 1970s, and in 1991 Asnaes began buying all the refinerys remaining surplus

gas, savin g 30,000 ton s of coal a y ear. This initiative w as possible because Stato il began

removing the excess sulfur in th e gas, to ma ke it clean er-burning. The rem oved sulfur

is sold to Kemira, w hich runs a sulfuric acid plan t in J utlan d. Asna es is also mo ving todesulfurize its smoke, using a process tha t y ields calcium sulfate a s a side product.

80,000 tons of this a year w ill be sold to G yproc as indu strial gypsum a substitute

for the m ined gypsum it currently imports. In addition, fly a sh from Asna es is used for

cement-making and road-building.

Asna es also uses its surplus heat for w armin g its ow n sea-w ater fish farm , w hich

produces 200 tons of trout and turbot a year for the French market. Sludge from the

fish farm is used a s fertilizer by local farm ers. Asnaes ha s more surplus heat a vailable,

Industrial ecosystems

represent

multidimensional

recyclingthe creation of

industrial food webs.


12/30


an d th ere are plans to use it for a 37 a cre horticulture operation u nder glass. 330,000

tons a year of high nutrient-value sludge from the fermentation operations at Novo

Nordisk are a lso being used a s a liquid fert ilizer by loca l farm s. This type of slud ge is

norm ally regarded as w aste, but Novo Nordisk is treating it by ad ding chalk-lime an d

holding it at 90C for an hour to neutralize any remaining microorganisms.

It is significan t tha t non e of the exa mples of cooperation a t Kalun dborg w as specifically

required by regulation, and that each exchange or trade is negotiated independently.Some w ere based strictly on price, w hile others were based on the installation of

infrastructure by one party in exchan ge for a good price offered by the oth er. In some

cases ma nda ted cleanliness levels, such as the req uirement for reduced n itrogen in

w aste w ater, or the removal of sulfur from flue gas, hav e permitted or stimulated reuse

of w astes, an d hav e certainly contributed to a clima te in w hich such cooperation

became fea sible. The ea rliest deals w ere purely econom ic, but m ore recent initiatives

have been m ade for largely environmenta l reasons and it has been foun d tha t these

can be m ade to pay, too. At Kalundborg, th e pattern of cooperation is described as

industrial symbiosis, bu t it seems more appropriate to consider it as a pioneering

industrial ecosystem, since sym biosis usually refers only to cooperation betw een tw o

organisms. Most of the Kalund borg exchanges are betw een geographically close

participantsin t he case of therma l transfer this is clearly importan t, a s infrastructurecosts are a factor. B ut proximity is not essential: th e sulfur and fly ash a re supplied to

buyers at distant locations.

Perhaps the key t o creating industrial ecosystems is to reconceptua lize w astes as

products. This suggests not on ly the search for w ays to reuse w aste, but a lso the active

selection of processes w ith readily reusable w aste. This can start w ith just a single

process or w aste. As an exam ple, Du Pon t used to dispose of hexam ethyleneimine

(HMI), a chemical generated during the production of nylon. B ut w hen it started

A snaes (coal-fired electricpower generating station)

Statoil(oi l refinery)

LakeTiss(freshwatersource)

N ovo Nordisk(pharmaceuticalplant)

Kemira

fertilizer

G yproc(gypsumwall-boardplant)

greenhouses

districtheating

fishfarming

fly ash cement androads

heat

heat

heat

gypsum

gas

sludge

water

water

water

sulfur

steam

gas

cooling

water

waste

wate

r

steam

(sulfuric acid)

Source: Novo Nordisk

Figure 4:

The flow of resources and

by-products between

participants in the

pioneering industrial

ecosystem at Kalundborg

in Denmark

The earliest deals at

Kalundborg were purely

economic, but more recent

initiatives made for

environmental reasons have

been made to pay, too.


13/30


looking for alternatives to disposal, it w as able to find a v ery successful market in th e

pharm aceutical and coa tings indu stries.

The prospect of a large-scale, an d ultima tely indu stry-w ide industrial ecosystem h as

been advanced by Robert Frosch and Nicholas Gallopoulos at General Motors.8 They

ha ve given exam ples of industrial ecosystems involving ind ividual ma terials, such as

iron an d steel, polyviny l chloride (PVC), an d platinum group meta ls. Ironically, un til

the advent of automotive catalytic converters in the mid-1970s, the platinum group

meta ls were part of a n extrem ely efficient industrial ecosystem th at recycled 85 percent

or more of these metals. The high va lue of platinu m w as obviously an importan t factor

in th is, but t he exa mple does indicate that impressive efficiencies can be obta ined in

practice. And, in ma ny cases, apart from the savings in ma terial costs, there can also be

substantial savings in haza rdous w aste disposal fees.

2 Balancing indust rial input and output to natural ecosystem capacit y

The t hrust of industrial ecology is to a void ind ustrial stress on th e env ironment . There

w ill nevertheless be many points of conta ct betw een industry and th e environment ,

and there may be outputs to the natural environment tha t are in effect using it as a

carrier or tran sfer medium , or a s a cooperative processing componen t in th e industrial

ecosystem.

Industrial ecology w ill therefore be concerned w ith ma na gement of the interface

betw een industry an d the na tural environm ent. This will requ ire an expan sion of

know ledge abou t natu ral ecosystem dyna mics on both a local and a global level,

detailed understand ing of ecosystem a ssimilative capacity a nd recovery times, an d real

time information a bout current environmen tal conditions. It w ill involve studying

w ays tha t industry can safely interface w ith natu re, in terms of location, intensity, an d

timing, an d developing mean s of continuously ad justing th ese in response to real time

feedback about environmental conditions. It must also involve concern about the risk

of cat astrophic failure of industrial operations, stressing design th at is intrinsically

incapable of acute environmental impactmuch as current design approaches tonu clear fission reacto rs stress fail-safe cooling principles and low radio active fu el

medium concentrations that are immune to meltdown (although these still have not

solved the problem of radioactive w aste accumulation ).

Efforts to establish continuous real-time monitoring of environmental conditions have

already begun, a s have attem pts to w eave these together on a global scale, using

adva nced computer techn ologies, to create a seamless real-time picture of plan etary

ecosystem fu nctioning. An aw areness of the importance of this can be seen in Tom Van

San ts GeoSpher e Project, the creation of a single data base of satellite images tha t

reveal a cloud-free picture of the earths entire surfaceover w hich a n ov erlay of real-

time w eather pa tterns w ill be created. Similarly, the impact o f NASAs graphic ima ges of

stratospheric ozone depletion over th e an tarctic played a leading role in consolidatingpolitical support for CFC restraint.

Less w ell know n are th e equa lly remarkable and revealing composite data images from

th e eight-yea r life of NASAs Coa stal Zone C olor Sca nn er (CZCS) satellite. These

remarkable pictures have provided a picture of the seasonal flux of phy toplankton in

the w orlds oceans, w ith significant gains for scientific understanding of th e global

carbon cy cle.9 NASAs Upper Atmosph ere Research S at ellite (UARS) is expected to

provide a similar gain in un derstanding a tmospheric processes. The v alue of this kind of

Management of the

interface between industry

and the natural

environment will require an

expansion of knowledge

about natural ecosystem

dynamics.


14/30


data has prompted the ambitious Mission to Planet Earth proposal by NASA,

w hich w ould place an array of environm enta l monitoring satellites in orbit during

th e 1990s.

A pioneering example of the corporate use of information technology to integrate

environmental, technical, and ma nagement data is provided by Joh nson &J ohn-

son (J&J), th e internationa l health-care products man ufacturer. Its innov ative

emergency man agement softw are, Emergency Information System/Chem icals

(EIS/C), combines three elemen ts: data, comm unications techno logy, and a n

electronic mapping capability th at a llows th e company to show its facilities in

detail, dow n to the floor plans of individual buildings and precise locations of

regulated chemicals. It can a lso access regulatory, chemical, and emergency re-

sponse data a bout ha zardous mat erials by draw ing on J&Js PC-Ba sed Regulatory,

Environmental, Chemical Information System (PRECIS).10

EIS/Cs maps depict not o nly the J &J facilities an d th e location o f chemicals, but

also show the surrounding com mun ity, including the location of schools, hospitals,

transportation systems and so on, an d can zoom ou t to show the country and its

regiona l locat ion. The system is also capable of collecting local met eorological da ta

real-time, an d can use this to plot predicted dispersion plumes of an y a irborne

chemicals, displaying them on the local area maps. During hazardous chemical

emergencies, local auth orities often ha ve difficulty pinpointing w here the a ccident

ha s occurred, wh at oth er chemicals are stored on site, an d other vital information

needed for a n effective response to the accident. For this reason, J&J ha s dona ted

the EIS/C softw are, as w ell as persona l computers or the funds to purchase them ,

to local emergency ma nagem ent au thorities including fire fighters and police. In

this w ay, it has prepared both itself an d the local comm unities w here it operates for

poten tial chem ical emergen cies. As of 1991, EIS/C ha s been pilot-tested at eigh t

sites in New Jersey as w ell as several sites in Portugal, B elgium, an d the U.K. , an d

w ill eventually be u sed w orldw ide.

In the future, the large-scale integration of environmental data by computer can be

expected to merge specific company and national data, satellite data, and data

collected real-time by large num bers of ground-based electronic and biological

sensors, to provide a truly global real-time picture of environm ental con ditions.

Sensors already being used aroun d th e w orld for continuous, un attended environ-

ment al mon itoring include solid-state devices tha t use ultrasound to m easure w ind

speed and direction, and temperature; and infrared photo-acoustic atmospheric gas

sampling devices that can continuo usly an d selectively m onitor for parts-per-billion

traces of toxic or pollutant ga s in th e atm osphere. B iochip sensors based on a ctive

biological sensing com ponents a re also being introduced.

Obtaining an d displaying integrated environm ental data w ill permit study of globalecosystem beha vior, the m onitoring of flow s or point sources of pollution, a nd

measurem ent of th e effectiveness of intervent ions. Much, ho w ever, depends on

our theoretical understanding of natural ecology. Ecology is not by any means a

mature science, and simply does not yet have an adequate large-scale understand-

ing of aggregate ecological processes. In the period 1980 to 1987, 50 percent of all

ecological studies w ere condu cted on a reas less tha n on e meter in diam eter, an d 25

percent dea lt w ith a reas less than 25 centimeters in diam eter. Similarly, a survey of

literature in 1989 show ed tha t 40 percent of ecological experiments lasted for less

Information technology

can be used to integrate

environmental, technical,

and management data.


15/30


than a year, and that only seven percent lasted five or more years.11 A report published

in 1990 by the Ecological Society of America (ESA), Sustainable Biosphere Ini ti ative: An

Ecological Research Agenda,12 empha sizes the need for a w ider perspective, a nd proposes a

list of ten research priorities for ecological research in response to global en vironmen tal

problems. It a lso identifies twelve intellectual frontiers of ecology tha t focus on issues

of primary importance for mana gement of the interface between industry and the

ecosystem.

In ecology today, fund am ental a spects of understanding a re in ferment. The application

of chaos th eory, the principles of sociobiology, and even the G aia th eory, are cha l-

lenging an earlier picture of the stability a nd evo lution of ecosystems. A view is emerg-

ing tha t sees ecosystems as self-organizing systems, in w hich order an d complexity

are emergent properties, not accidents. As living comm unities they are able to

ma intain t hemselves independen tly of the precise mix of species tha t compose them, a s

these can be in constant flux w hile the ecosystem itself is sustained.

If ecosystems are chaotic systems, they may have the ability to appear robust and

resilient un til cha nging overall system inputs reach a level at w hich th ere is a sudden

jump to a qualitatively different pattern of self-organization. Such changing inputs

ma y w ell include increases in the am oun t of energy being released in the system, or

chan ges in the identity an d am oun ts of chemicals flow ing in the system. And the

inert or abiotic part of the natural environment may similarly not be just the coinci-

denta l frame in w hich life finds itself, but be th e result of a ctive collective regulation by

all living organ isms. The strong v ersion of th is view is the Gaia theory, w hich sees the

entire planet as a single living o rganism.13 In support of this view, it can be show n tha t

the gas composition of the a tmosphere is not ch emically stable, an d is being ma intained

only by the a ctivities of living organisms, and tha t mu ch crustal rock can be considered

to be the product of living processes, much as is the inert shell of a lobster.

Wha tever the fina l form o f these ideas, their resolution ho lds considerable practical

significance for environmental management by industry. Rational environmentalpolicies must be ba sed on scientific und erstan ding of environm ental processes, and if

industry is to enjoy ration al policy, it ha s a clear interest in th e development of good

theory. Many qu estions w ith less than obvious an sw ers are being generated by new

scientific findings and the a dvan ce of technology. For example, as biological elements

begin to be used in industrial processes follow ing the ad vent o f biotechnology, wh ere

exactly is the boun dary betw een industry a nd th e natural w orld? Shou ld species be

deliberately introduced into n atura l ecosystems in order to metabolize industrial

effluents? Is there any level of industrial output that the environment can tolerate, or

must emissions be reduced t o zero irrespective of timing or location?

On th e last point, prevailing policies stressing pollution control w ere based on the idea

that the environment had an unlimited capacity to assimilate small amounts of pollut-an ts with out ha rm, but findings that this is not true are now leading to a shift in policy

to em phasize pollution prevention. Ten stat es hav e already passed tox ics use reduction

law s modeled on this thinking, but does this mea n, by extension, tha t all individua l

industrial processes in the future should be closed systems? An industrial ecosystem

exploits the transfer of industrial outputs betw een compan ies and industries in order to

atta in efficiencies of use and reuse. And it is possible to imagine instances in w hich th e

natural environment can act as an intermediary or carrier of industrial outputs. For

exam ple, a n et industrial producer of carbon dioxide (CO2) at one location might be

If industry is to enjoy

rational environmental

policy, it has a clear

interest in the development

of good ecological theory.


16/30


balanced by a net industrial absorber of CO2

at an other location, w ith the atmosphere

acting as th e link or transfer medium. This kind o f tran sfer is actually a lready h appen-

ingas the Italian agrochem icals group Ferruzi has show n by its calculation th at it is a

net a bsorber of CO2.14 Finding good a nsw ers to qu estions such as these will have

considerable practical significance for industry in t he yea rs ahead , an d can be expected

to be an importan t aspect of indu strial ecology.

Industrial ecology w ill also be concerned w ith ma intaining rates of na tural resource use

at sustainable levels an d w ith tolerable environm enta l impacts. In the case of activities

such as min ing, the ecological significance of surface rock formations w ill need to be

considered, as w ith recently emerging concern abou t the m ining of limestone in

England, w hich results in the loss not on ly of uniqu e habitat s and scenery, but also of a

very significan t w ater reservoir. The limestone region of th e Men dip hills in southern

England, for exam ple, w hich ha s lost 190 million tons of hard limestone to qua rrying

in th e last 20 years, supplies 90 billion litres of drinking w ater a year, 40 percent more

w ater per unit area than any other aquifer in southern England. 15 The co ncept of

renew able miningthe substitution of, say, volcanic basalt for many mun dane u ses

of sediment ary rockmay y et take hold. How ever, the mere selection of renew able

resources is not enough to a void significant modification of ecosystems. The plan ting of

factory forests, for exam ple, w here old grow th forests once stood, can lead to a

dramatic reduction in species diversity.16 Clearly, more is needed than the convenience

of a single species mon oculture if entire ecosystems are to be sustainably exploited on

an industrial scale.

In support of practical application o f ecological und erstan ding, it m ay prove possible to

develop specific indicators or indexes tha t q uan tify the impact of indu strial ecosystems

on aspects of the natural environment. For instance, an industrial facility could be

given a score for its net CO2

balance w ith the environment, and this score could be

used to facilitate industry comparisons, the quantification of environmental audits, or

provide a basis for the assessment of a carbon tax. The severity of impact on na tural

ecosystems m ight a lso be assessed by the timescale over w hich recovery w ill occur. Thisdepends on w hich of th ree recovery m echanisms are called into play. The first, and

most ra pid, is population regrow th, w hich occurs w hen a single species is affected. The

second is succession, in w hich ma ny species are affected, an d in w hich recovery

involves recreation of th e entire ecosystem as food cha ins are rebuilt from th e bottom

up, a process that can take considerably longer. The th ird recovery m echanism, w ith

the longest timescale, is evolution, requ ired in cases w here hum an ch an ge to the

environm ent is so extreme tha t recolonization actua lly requ ires new organisms.

The flow s of chemicals betw een industry a nd th e biosphere can be ma pped using th e

ma ss balan ce approach a nd th e concept of ma terials cycles. The ma ss balan ce

method uses numerical data for direct inputs of materials, available from economic

statistics or individua l company records, in combina tion w ith chemical or engineeringdeta ils of th e processes being studied. This can give mo re accurat e assessmen t of w aste

releases into the en vironmen t tha n direct measurement of w aste streams, particularly

w hen th e w astes are emitted along w ith large volumes of combustion products or

wastewater.

The con cept of ma terials cycles is an exten sion of th e idea of biological cycles, such a s

the carbon an d nitrogen cycles, to include flows w ithin the industrial system. Quan ti-

fied flow charts of the ty pe show n generically in Figure 5 can be used to integrate a

Specific indicators or

indexes could quantify the

impact of industrial

ecosystems on aspects of

the natural environment.


17/30


w ide array of data , providing a basis for comparing natu ral and indu strial flow s, in

terms of volumes, flow paths, an d environm ental sinks. They a re an excellent starting

point for ana lysis of the environmen tal impact of industrial flow s, and for the develop-

ment of environmental improvements and modifications by exploiting potential trade-

offs and choices. They can a lso serve as commu nications tools for conveying the logic

an d rationa le of complex environm ental decisions in an a ccessible w ay.

Ultimately, w ith sufficiently subtle und erstan ding and genu ine concern, active mana ge-ment of th e indu strial interface w ith the biosphere may become a coordinated effort of

environmental monitoring and real-time a djustment comparable to th e ma nagement of

large infrastructure netw orkssuch as dema nd a nd supply man agemen t in electricity

grids, or traffic routing management in national telephone systems.

3 Demat erialization of indust rial output

Much of the environmental impact of industrial activity is a result of the energy

consumption and mobilization of matter that make industrial production possible. In

the environm ental debate beginning in th e 1970s it w as assumed tha t increases in

economic prosperity and furth er econom ic grow th w ere inevitably linked w ith w ors-

ened environmental impact. It w as therefore argued tha t economic grow th a nd indus-

trial activity w ould ha ve to be slow ed or reversed in order to solve environmen talproblems in a ny funda ment al w ay. Today, this relationship is no longer obvious.

In industrially developed economies, dematerializationa decline in materials and

energy intensity in industrial productionis an established trend. When m easured in

terms of physical quan tity per constant do llar of Gross Nationa l Product (GNP), basic

ma terials use has been falling since the 1970s, an d ha s even levelled off w hen m ea-

sured in terms of the qu an tity consumed per capita. Practical exam ples of this trend a re

the steadily declining size and increasing pow er of computers, or the n early 20 percent

Dematerializat ion is an

established trend in

industrialized economies,

and is being driven by four

factors.

Figure 5:

Basic flow diagram for

the interface between

industry and the

environment

Biota

A tmosphere

O cean

Land Sediments

Industrial Economy

Extr. Conv. M fr. U se


18/30


drop in the average w eight of U.S. autom obiles betw een 1975 and 1985.17 And micro-

structural engineering of smart ma terials is yielding ever lighter, h igher-performan ce

components.

The trend tow ard dem aterialization is being driven by at least four fa ctors:

First, the cost of producing mat erials ha s been increasing, largely because materials

processing tends to be energy-intensive.

Second, there is increasing competition from substitute materials, man y of w hich are

lighter an d h ave superior properties to ba sic ma terials such a s steel. This results in

actua l substitution of ma terials w ith low er mass, or in th e introduction of specialty

versions of basic materials wh ich give improved performan ce w ith less ma ss for the

same fun ction. An exam ple is the increasing use of high-strength steels in a utom obile

ma nufa cture, since each kilogram of high-strength steel replaces 1.3 kilograms of

standard carbon steel.18

Third, materials ha ve successively satu rated the markets for their bulk use. Just as

the m ajor uses of steel an d cement h ave been in the construction of civil infrastructure,

w hich is now essentially complete in industrialized countries, so the m arket for cars

an d consumer du rables per capita is now also essentially satura ted, an d consists prima-

rily of replacement demand.

Fourth, follow ing on the last point, discretionary income now tends to be spent on

goods and services w ith a low er materials content per consumer dollar, since there are

no m ajor new consumer product categories with a high m aterials conten t per dollar.

The ba sic trend to dema terialization appears w ell established, an d is clearly en viron-

ment ally favora ble, since it demon strates tha t economic grow th is becoming increas-

ingly decoupled from grow th in ma terials usea fun dam ental issue in the grow th

versus environm ent debate. In effect, value is increasingly being added by em phasiz-

ing product-related informa tion, or embedded know ledge, rather tha n product mass.

Nevertheless, there are a number of factors that run counter to dematerialization, and

w ith w hich indu strial ecology needs to be concerned. The first is product qu ality.

Improvements in product quality generally lead to enhanced dematerialization, but ifproduct qua lity is poor, although individua l product mass may be low er, products are

likely to be discarded sooner, leading to increased ma terialization o f w aste. Linked w ith

th is is the need for in creased provision for repair an d recycling of produ cts. The recent

emergence of Design for Disassembly (DFD) is a response to th e recognition tha t

product design h as increasingly emph asized ease of ma nufa cture above ease of repair

or recycling. In m an y cases products are no longer assembled w ith traditiona l fasteners

such as screws and can not be dismantled w ithout destroying their components. In

addition, components frequently represent a mix of different materials and cannot

easily be recycled. Recent legislation in Germany mandating the ability to dismantle

cars rapidly into h omo genous componen t parts, is likely to lead to w idespread develop-

ment of DFD skills.

At the same time, there needs to be a recognition that although improvements in

technology and materials science tend to lead to long-term gains in dematerialization,

there ma y need to be tolerance for transient increases in ma terialization w hile a new

technology is establishing itself. A case in point w ould be the ma jor grow th in dem an d

for office paper caused by inform ation technologydesktop computers an d photo copi-

ers. In spite of the fa ct tha t th e microchip is perha ps the best example of technology

w ith a dram atically declining ratio of product ma ss to dollar value, and product ma ss to

embedded kno w ledge, the paperless office ha s failed to arrive. Yet the a ccelerated

New materials give

improved performance with

less mass than the basic

materials they replace.


19/30


ma terialization of paper could be reversed by perhaps three further inno vation s, each

of w hich the com puter industry is striving to develop: an increase in the ima ge resolu-

tion of comput er displays to just beyon d the limit of optical resolution of th e hum an

eye (the strategy u sed in good fou r-color process printing, bu t no t yet reached even by

high-definition television), combined w ith readily porta ble large-area displays (tran sis-

torized active ma trix flat pan el displays are moving w ell in this direction), and a

really convincing permanent memory medium (magneto-optical disks and drives are a

good poten tial cand idate since they are impervious to stray m agnetic fields). Together,

these could make reading from a comput er as acceptable as reading from a piece of

paper, an d could remove th e feeling tha t paper w as needed for secure storage.

Industrial ecology could introduce materialization impact statements or an index of

materialization for products and technologies to focus the need for additional develop-

ment effort specifically aim ed at enha ncing dema terialization. The trend to dem aterial-

ization applies not on ly to m aterials, but also applies to energy w hen m easured in

terms of en ergy consum ed per dollar of GNP. Thus, ma terialization impact a ssessments

could routinely review th e materials and energy inten sity of products using mea sures

such as the pow er consumed in ma nufa cturing per dollar of product value. We may

come to regard kWh/$, or kg/$, as an im portant attribute of n ew products w e are

planning to buy.

An example of a conscious move to energy dematerialization is being provided by the

recent m ove by m an y electricity generating utilities to deal w ith grow ing electricity

dema nd in a new w ay. Utilities in 19 states hav e chosen to invest in energy con serva-

tion as an alternative to new generating capacity. By offering users energy saving

technology, such as compact fluorescent lamps, and adding a fractional charge to their

bills over an exten ded period, they can continue to show a good return on inv estment

w hile at the same time meeting demand, an d w ithout incurring the environmental

impact of in creased electricity generating capa city. This demon strates that w ith eno ugh

ingenuity, profitable operation o f a business can be deliberately a nd successfully

decoupled from grow th in materialization.

Lastly, industrial ecology w ould not o nly seek the deliberate enh ancemen t an d accel-

eration of dema terialization, but a lso look for w ays for new ly industrializing econom ies

to leapfrog over older, highly ma terializing indu strial practices to dev elop intrinsically

less environmentally demanding industrial patterns from the outset. By focusing

adva nced ma terials and d esign know ledge on th e opportunities for radical dema terial-

ization o f basic civil infrastructure, it m ay prove possible to sidestep the m assive

ma terials use that h as until now been seen as an intrinsic feature of the early stages of

industrialization.

The a va ilable evidence suggests tha t it is possible to thin k in terms of increasin g the

efficiency of ind ustrialization a s an a ggregate activity, since as nationa l econom ies ha vesuccessively industrialized, their respective peak energy intensities have fallen steadily.

When th e UK industrialized it wa s using the eq uivalent of a bout 1.02 metric tons of

petroleum to y ield $1000 of Gross Dom estic Product (G DP) a t its peak intensity in

1880. When US energy intensity peaked in 1915 it w as at th e equiva lent of abou t 0.95

tons, w hereas Ja pan, on e of the more recent countries to industrialize, peaked at only

about 0.42 tons in 1950.19 The a verage energy intensity of industrialized econom ies

today is about 0.35 tons, but the peak value for economies that are currently industrial-

izing is somew ha t higher.

The energy and mass

consumed in manufacturing

per dollar of product value

may come to be an

important attribute of new

products.


20/30


A deliberate effort to develop technologies for dema terialization could provide busi-

nesses in indu strially developed coun tries w ith excellent new ma rkets w hile at the

same time making a crucial contribution to global environmental quality.

4 Imp roving the metabolic pat hways of industria l p rocesses and materials

use

Industrial ecosystems an d indu strial m etabolism are parallel concepts. The idea of th e

industrial ecosystem focuses on th e efficient interchan ge of byproducts an d intermedi-

ates betw een industrial players, w hich roughly correspond to t he individuals of a

species in the biological ecosystem. Industrial metabolism, 20 on the other han d, is

concerned w ith the efficiency of th e metabolic processes occurring w ithin the ind ividu-

als of the species, w hich rough ly correspond to the individua l firms or indu strial

process operations. In biology, meta bolism refers to the chemical processes and path-

w ays w ithin the living organism by w hich food is assimilated, complex chemicals are

synth esized for ma intena nce and grow th, a nd energy is stored or released.

Systematic study of th e type and patt ern of chemical reactions an d ma terials flow s in

the indu strial system indicates a num ber of potential areas of improvement. Almost all

industrial processes are fossil-fueled an d often involve h igh tem peratures and pres-

sures. They also tend to involve m ultiple separate steps, in w hich th e intermediate

meta bolites are incorporated into th e next production stage, or released as wa stes,

rather th an being reused. Reducing the n umber of process steps can be a pow erful

mean s to increased energy efficiency. If a complete process has four steps, each w ith 60

percent energy conv ersion efficiency, th e efficiency o f th e tota l process is the a rithmeti-

cal product of the steps: 12 percent. If the process had only three steps, its efficiency

w ould be 21 percent. Deleting process steps is often more fea sible than achieving th e

equiva lent incremental improvemen ts in the efficiency of each step.

In ad dition, ma ny of the end uses of ma terials are dissipativetha t is, they are dis-

persed into the env ironmen t as they a re used, with n o hope of recovery for recycling.21

Car a nd tru ck brake pads and tires, for exam ple, leave a finely distributed pow der onour highw ays as they w ear dow n. This dispersion becomes more serious wh en toxic

heavy metals are involved. Changes in technology could avoid dissipative uses of

materialsin the case of car brakes, for example, vehicles could in principle use

electrically-regenerative or flyw heel-storage braking that n ot on ly avo ids thermally-

an d m aterially-dissipative friction, bu t a ctually recaptures the v ehicles energy of

motion an d stores it for later use.

Com pared w ith th e elegance an d econom y of biological meta bolic processes such a s

photosyn thesis, or the citric acid cycle, most existing indu strial processes appear to be

far from th eir potential ultima te efficiency in terms of the ba sic chemical and en ergy

pathw ay s they use. This suggests tha t biotechnology m ay offer the promise of radically

improved industrial process pathw ays, perhaps able to mov e from primary feedstocksto fina l products in a single step, w hile regenerating process intermediates much as the

energy ca rrier adeno sine triphospha te (ATP) is regenera ted in cellular meta bolism.

Biological metabolism is prima rily fueled by solar energy an d operates at am bient

temperatures and pressures: if this w ere true of industrial meta bolism, t here could be

significan t gains in plan t operating safety. A simple example of the replacement o f a

mechanical process by a biological process is the established bacterial processing of

meta l ore, w hich has allow ed extraction from min e tailings that w ere previously

unecon omic to process further.22

Study of the type and

pattern of chemical

reactions and materials

flows in the industrial

system indicates potential

areas of improvement.


21/30


Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), provides an excellent example

of the industrial metabolic improvement a pproach in practice: its frequently cited

Pollution Prevention Pays or 3P Program. Initiated in 1975, the 3P Program has

resulted in m ore tha n 2,700 successful projects in its first 15 yea rs, w hile yielding $500

million in savings for the compan y a nd a 50 percent reduction in pollution per unit of

production.

Ma ny of 3Ms products involve coa ting processes. Typically, coatin gs are dissolved in

solvents, so that they can be applied evenly and thinly; the solvents are then dried off

w ith heat . The problem is tha t, as they dry, solvents like toluene, xylene, a nd m ethyl

ethyl ketone a re released into th e air. Pollution con trol equipmen t can redu ce these air

emissions by as mu ch as 85 percent, but th ese add -ons are expensive to operate and

still allow 10 to 15 percent of t he solvents to be released. 3P w as an attem pt to find

low er cost and longer-lasting solutions. Its objective w as simple: to prevent pollution at

the source in both products and manufacturing processes, rather than removing it from

effluent after it has been created.

Although the concept w as not un ique, even at th e time it w as instituted, the idea of

applying pollution prevention compan yw ide and w orldw ide, and recording the results,

had not been attempted before 3Ms initiative. 3P encourages technical innovation to

prevent pollution at the source through four methods: product reformulation, process

modification, eq uipment redesign, an d resource recovery. Projects tha t use one o f these

methods to eliminate or reduce pollution, save resources and money, and advance

technology or engineering practice are eligible for recognition und er 3P. In the course

of 15 years, worldw ide ann ual releases of air, w ater, sludge, and m unicipal solid wa ste

pollutan ts from 3M operations has been reduced by ha lf a million tons, w ith about 95

percent of th e reductions coming from U.S. operations.23

The ideal end-point of improved industrial metabolism w ould be a dvan ces across the

spectrum of industrial processes, bringing th em m ore into line w ith th e meta bolic

patterns used in th e na tural ecosystem. The creation o f industrial ecosystems w ould bemade easier, as w ould man agement of the interface between industry a nd th e bio-

sphere. In-process energy d eman ds w ould be reduced, processes w ould be safer, and

industrial metabolites w ould be m ore compatible w ith n atura l ecosystems. This is

undoubtedly a longer-term objective, but even in the form of modest, systematic

process improvements, industrial metabolism has mu ch to offer as a w ay o f thinking

about the env ironment al compatibility of indu strial processes, an d for this reason is an

important com ponent o f industrial ecology.

5 Systemic pat terns of energy use

Energy is th e life-blood of industria l activity. The extra ction, tra nsporta tion , processing,

an d use of energy sources account for the largest environment al impacts of the indus-

trial system. A global, systemic, environmen tally-oriented a pproach to en ergy technol-ogy a nd supply in frastructures is, therefore, a h igh priority of indu strial ecology.

Existing patterns of energy sourcing and d istribution are un sustainable, both in term s

of pollution an d because they are based on finite fossil energy resources. Even nuclear

fission, v iewed o ver the long term, probably suffers from a low or even negative net

energy yield w hen th e total life cycle cost of construction, fuel production, decon-

tam ination, decomm issioning, an d w aste storage is deducted. Moreover, w henever

energy is released in the global ecosystem in excess of the am bient energy load , it

3Ms 3P program is an

example of the industrial

metabolic improvement

approach in practice.


22/30


am oun ts to stress that t he system ha s to absorb. The current prospect of global w arm-

ing illustrates w ha t may ha ppen as a result.

The u se of carbon-containin g fossil fuels is at t he h eart of the problematic release of the

greenhouse gas CO2

an d a good part of the associated global wa rming problem. Every

ton of carbon in fuel combines w ith oxygen in the atm osphere to release 3.66 tons of

CO2. B ut th e am oun t of carbon in fossil fuel varies significantly. Expressed as the

proportion of carbon to hy drogen, fuelw ood is roughly 91 percent carbon , coal 50

percent, oil 33 percent, and na tural gas only 20 percent carbon .24 What is interesting

about these ratios is that th e fuels used as the indu strial system ha s evolved have

become increasingly hyd rogen-rich. In fact, in theory a t least, pure hyd rogen w ould be

the ideal clean fuel. When it burns, it releases only w ater vapor as it combines with

oxygen in the atmosphere. 25

This attractive chara cteristic ha s led to the concept of a future hyd rogen econom y.

Althou gh form idable practical development h urdles need to be overcome, this scenario

could represent the u ltimate env ironmen tal energy supply infrastructure. The h ydro-

gen w ould be produced from w ater using heat or electricity, w ith the energy for this

being supplied by solar or hy dro pow er (energy for hydrogen production ca n a lso be

supplied by fossil fuels or nuclear pow er, but th e total system w ould th en no longer be

based on a mbient energy). The hy drogen w ould th en be tran sferred by pipeline to its

point of use, a cting as a m uch m ore efficient energy carrier than electric pow er grids,

and having the advan tage that it can be used as fuel by conventional internal-combus-

tion engines. A study conducted in 1989 at the Center for Energy and Environmental

Studies at Princeton University compared the flammability, energy of ignition, and

speed of travel through a ir, of hy drogen, n atural gas and gasoline, and foun d tha t no

fuel wa s inherently safer than the oth ers.26 The logistics and business infrastru cture o f a

hy drogen supply indu stry w ould appear to resemble those of the existing oil industry,

an d as a result the scenario is of interest to major oil companies. In Germa ny, the

Federal Ministry of Research a nd Techn ology is fund ing research by M ercedes-Ben z

into h ydrogen-fueled vehicles. In Can ada , there are plans to construct a h ydroelectric-pow ered 100-megaw att pilot plan t capable of producing 2 tons of hydrogen a n ho ur.

The hy drogen w ould be shipped to Europe und er an agreemen t w ith the European

Commission.

Under th is scena rio, there w ould initially be a high en ergy cost to construct the neces-

sary pipeline, transport, and storage infrastructure, and to manufacture and install the

long-life ambient energy capture dev ices such as photo voltaics or solar therma l collec-

tors. This energy could be provided by fossil fuel in w ha t w ould am oun t to a transfer

from our energy capital account in the earths crust, to another form of energy supply

capitalan ambient energy infrastructure.

This scenario m ay not represent the fina l shape of th e energy supply infrastructure ofthe fut ure, but it does illustrate the systemic thinking tha t is required. Already, a spects

of th is logic are being applied. Co nstruction of new electricity generating capacity

aroun d the w orld is tending to fav or highly efficient combined-cycle gas turbine

technology tha t burns natural gas, and na tural gas is w idely seen as the low -carbon

bridge to a post-fossil fuel econom y. Industrial ecology w ill be intensely concerned to

promote the development of an energy supply system that functions as a part of the

industrial ecosystem, an d is free of the negat ive environmen tal impacts associated w ith

current patterns of energy use.

The fuels used as the

industrial system has

evolved have become

increasingly hydrogen-rich

and carbon-free.


23/30


6 Policy ali gnment wit h a long-term perspect ive of industrial system

evolution

As industrial ecology frames a new paradigm for structural balan ce and environm ental

optimization in the industrial system, it cannot avoid the inevitable policy dimension of

such a broa d goal. If it is to ach ieve its full impact, it w ill certainly need to be backed up

by innov ative new policies that coherently align financial, economic, and regulatory

score-keeping on an internation al ba sis. There are a variety o f policy issues that n eed to

be addressed in o rder to do th is.

Probably th e prima ry policy concern is the resolution of the exten sive debate in recent

years about the need to reflect the true costs of environmental degradation in market

pricing. The ta x on CFCs follow ing the M ontreal Proto col is clear evidence tha t even in

the Un ited States there is a ba sic w illingness to redirect techn ology for environm ental

ends. The real question no w is w ha t form th e full range of these attributed costs w ill

take, wh en and how they w ill be applied, and w ith w hat degree of consistency across

jurisdictions.

It appears inevitable tha t steps w ill be taken interna tionally to place a m oney price on

environmental damagereferred to as a negative externality because it is external to

economic accoun ting, an d th erefore regarded as free of cost by th e ma rket. There are a t

least tw o basic mechan isms being proposed for this direct transfer of environmenta l

costs into th e ma rket domain. The first is the imposition of green or Pigovian taxes

(after the economist Pigou), such as the tax on CFCs. Proposals have been made for a

tax of a ny w here from $6 to $28 per ton on carbon-containing fuels to counter the

release of carbon dioxide, and it has been suggested that similar tax es could be applied

to environ menta l issues ran ging from the u se of virgin rather th an recycled ma terials,

to the overpumping of groundw ater. Most such proposals recomm end tha t there

should be an offsetting reduction in personal and corporate income taxes, or that the

revenue stream should be used to fund a transition to an ecologically benign economy.

An alternative a pproach to th e transfer of environ menta l costs is being proposed bythose w ho say green ta xes wo uld simply generate add itional bureaucratic inertia. They

propose instead tha t governm ents should issue a finite nu mber of pollution permits of

various types, w hich could be bought a nd sold in the market, creating a fina ncial

incentive to reduce pollution. To reduce th e sum tot al of pollution over tim e, the

governm ent could issueor auctiona progressively sma ller pool of permits each yea r,

or buy them back from a perman ent pool to remove them from the m arket, as could

others, for exam ple environmenta l groups. The Un ited States Environm enta l Protection

Agency (EPA) used this approach during th e phaseout o f leaded gasoline in the U nited

States, an d is currently using it in Los Angeles in a program called em issions tra ding.

Not only does this program appear to be w orking w ithin its defined limits, but in 1988

3M volunta rily returned rath er than sold 150 tons of air emission credits w orth m ore

tha n $1 million in order to en sure that its efforts resulted in a n et reduction of airpollution.

Not only does the ma rket not see the h idden cost of environmental dam age, but it

und ervalues environm enta l capital by applying ma rket interest rates w hen m aking

decisions about th e use of natu ral resources. If a forest grow ing at tw o or three percent

a yea r is compared w ith a lumber mill that w ill earn, say, a 15 percent return on

investment, the m arket is likely to sacrifice the forest to feed t he m ill. As a result, it ha s

been suggested that the discount rates used w hen m aking present value decisions

Probably the primary

policy concern is the

need to reflect

the true costs of

environmental

degradation in market

pricing.


24/30


about en vironmen tal assets should reflect natu ral rates of grow th or ecosystem recov-

ery rates.27

The scorecard used to m easure the performa nce of n ationa l economies is Gross Na-

tional Product (GNP), yet this allow s no depreciation for depleted or dam aged nat ural

resources, and is increasingly coming un der fire for being an ina dequ ate m easure of

na tional prosperity. A num ber of alternatives or supplements ha ve been proposed tha t

w ould provide a m ore balan ced picture. The Un ited Nations Development Program

(UNDP) has proposed a supplementary Human Development Index (HDI), and World

Ban k economist Herman Da ly ha s calculated an Index of Sustainable Economic

Welfare (IESW), w hich a ccounts for a v ariety of en vironmenta l deficits.28

On a somew ha t different tack, research w ith historical data indicates that th e indu strial

system as a w hole show s evidence of regularities, predictably structured patterns of

evolution and growth.29 These regularities essentially show tha t such things a s the

emergence of new technologies, or t he progressive sophistication of fu el sources, hav e

grow th patterns tha t follow consistent an d predictable S-shaped curves. An aw areness

of these patterns can ha ve value in ensuring tha t policy is not sw imming u pstream

against em ergent chara cteristics of the ind ustrial system.

Environm ental legislation n eeds to be both robust, an d flexible and experimen tal in

spirit, w ith a provision for self-correction: a ttributes that are often difficult to achieve in

practice. Sometimes th ere may be potential for no n-legislative mean s of policy imple-

ment ation. An exam ple is the EPAs G reen Lights program. This involves volunta ry

contracts betw een the EPA an d individual companies tha t commit them to install

ad va nced, cost-savin g light ing fixtures an d lam ps. The EPA supplies techn ical and cost

informa tion, an d, crucially, the motiva tion for an energy-saving mea sure wh ich might

otherw ise not occur simply because it wa s too low a priority on th e corporate agenda .

All these policy options, an d oth ers, w ill benefit by being view ed from th e systemic

perspective tha t indu strial ecology can provide. It is likely tha t an an alysis based onindustrial ecology w ill prove to be the most effective w ay bot h of discriminating

betw een policy options and of a chieving an integrated policy platform for th e environ-

ment.

Future Developments

Looking ahead, the long run outcome of an industrial ecology approach can be

sketched in o utline. In term s of the ty pes of ecosystems that w ill exist, it is likely th at

there w ill be not just one class of industrial ecosystem, bu t an entire spectrum of

ecosystems. These w ould run from single ma terial ecosystems, such a s the recycling

system for aluminum beverage cans, through a variety of more complex industrialecosystems, an d h ybrid bio-indu strial ecosystems, to original na tural ecosystems (see

Figure 6). To give this perspective, w e should remember th at h uma n m odification an d

ma nipulation o f ecosystems is as old as agriculture.

The challenge w e face now is the need to integrate industry into the equ ation, a nd

consciously to design a w orld tha t is both a esthetically pleasing, biologically stable, an d

economically productive. This is not u nprecedentedthe green and pleasant land of

19th a nd early 20th century England w as almost entirely shaped by hum an activity, as

Human modification

and manipulation of

ecosystems is as old as

agriculture. The challenge

now is to integrate industry.


25/30


are the u biquitous, an d exq uisitely productive, sculpted rice paddies on the m oun tain

slopes of Java an d B ali. The gardening of th e planet need no t be as far-fetched as it

sounds.

In th e future, th e scale of ou r activities is likely to be so great, a nd a rguably is already,

that n o part of the w orld w ill remain entirely natural. As a result, it w ill not be

possible to define natu ral ecosystems, or n ature itself, simply by referring to w ha t is

out th ere. We w ill need to define, along ma ny dim ensions, the param eters of w ha t isvaluable in a natural system, so tha t w e can m onitor and regulate the degree of impact

w e hav e on it, an d ha ve a ba sis for restoring it if necessary.

A vision of the environment, or a target state for the natural w orld, w ill need in

part to be expressed in terms of dyn am ic processes, n ot on ly in terms of static ecosys-

tem elemen tsa m ere listing of species. Our picture of a n ecosystem ten ds to be

focused on the actorsbut it is their actions and the contribution they make that are

important to the maintenance of the ecosystem. Ecosystems tend to be in continual

flux, w ith the m ix of species chan ging over time, and w e w ill need to recognize this by

identifying the values and outputs that are contributed by these dynamic elements.

Another dimension of environmental quality is the recreational and aesthetic value ofthe natural environment. It is clear that scientific and technical arguments are not the

sole driving factor in public concern a bout environm ental issues. People derive high

emotional and psychic value from the health a nd beauty of their environment, an d

corporations might w onder if they should establish a pa rallel betw een this and th e care

they devote to high aesthetic quality in marketing. One aspect of a companys image

may come to be the contribution it makes to shaping its customers total quality of

lifenot merely in th e products it supplies, but also in ensuring th at it d oes not in the

process degrade other aspects of th at persons life experience. An exam ple of this w ould

Figure 6:

The likely future

spectrum of ecosystem

types

Sing

leMate

rial

Ecosy

ste

m

Inter

-Industrial

Ecosy

ste

m

Hyb

rid

Industrial

Ecosy

ste

m

Bio-

engin

eered

Ecosy

ste

m

Mod

ifie

dNatu

ral

Ecosy

ste

m

Recl

aim

ed

Natu

ral

Ecosy

ste

m

Origin

alNatu

ral

Ecosy

ste

m

Industry Nature

The ability to define natural

systems in

process terms will be

essential to monitoring

and regulating our impact

on the environment.


26/30


be the brilliant advertisement run by Shell in the United Kingdom a decade ago,

show ing a shimm ering vista of En glish country side alongside this headline: Wouldnt

you protest if Shell ran a pipeline through this beautiful coun tryside? follow ed on th e

next line by They already h ave! 30 In this very effective advertisement, the appeal w as

grounded in the companys concern and competence in terms of the pure aesthetic

qua lity of the environment.

The definition of nature an d of environmen tal qua lity w ill not, in short, be somethingw e can take for granted, but something we w ill have to m ake a positive effort to

formulate. This w ill be a cultural challenge, as w ell as a challenge of know ledge and

an alysis for ecology, but it w ill be vital to creating an optimal interface betw een indus-

try a nd the biosphere. The ta sk of industrial ecology w ill be to provide the m eans of

maintaining the key defined parameters of the n atural environment, allow ing the

industrial players to collectively condition their environment in a manner reminis-

cent of the Gaia theory.

The result of an industrial ecological approach over time w ill be a gradu al overall

transition, t aking several decades, to an eco-industrial infrastructure (see Figure 7), so

tha t all process systems and eq uipment, an d plant an d factory design, w ill eventua lly

be built to interconn ect w ith industrial ecosystems as a m atter of course. Older, linearflow con cepts of design w ill be considered obsolete, and a dom inan t new generation

of technology w ill ha ve come into being, characterized not necessarily by the no velty

of its principles, but by its ability to interlock w ith oth er parts of an industrial ecosys-

tem. To a great extent, th e industrial leaders of tomorrow w ill be those w ho n ow

industrial ecology- environmental agenda for industry

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