Industrial Ecology Perspective Research Articles

Water Management in Integrated Service Systems: Accounting for Water Flows in Urban Areas

This article focuses on studying the natural and artificial water flows of the service sector from an industrial ecology perspective. The purpose is to determine, in the area under study, the water consumption of the service sector and the most water demanding services in global and relative terms, total water consumption per year and liters per user per year (Lpu) respectively, as well as the existing and potential water flow interrelations among service facilities to reduce their water consumption. Finally we propose measures for water consumption minimization, recycling and reusability based on the results of the diagnosis. The analyzed system is Montjuic Urban Park (Barcelona, Spain), where the economic activity is based on the service sector (about 200 service facilities and no industrial activities). In the individual study of services we found an average consumption of 75 Lpu, with a large range in the water consumption by service types (between 17 and 156 Lpu), and between facilities of the same service type (51 and 155 Lpu). These results indicate a high level and low regulation of water consumption among the service facilities. In the study of the interrelations between the services we found that a high potential for hydrological saving exists in the system (equivalent to 50% of the potable water inflow from the supply network). The results indicate a lack of ecosystemic and synergic vision in the service sector. Interrelations among water flows have to be established, by means of rainwater collection and the reuse of water flows from swimming pools and ornamental fountains. The article proposes the application of industrial ecology methods to improve water management inside Montjuic Urban Park and, in general, within any system where the service sector is the main economic activity.

Exploring the Synergy Between Industrial Ecology and System of Systems to Understand Complexity

SummaryTwo objectives are pursued in this article. First, from a methodological perspective, we explore the relationships among the constructs of complex adaptive systems, systems of systems, and industrial ecology. Through examination of central traits of each, we find that industrial ecology and system of systems present complementary frameworks for posing systemic problems in the context of sociotechnical applications. Furthermore, we contend that complexity science (the basis for the study of complex adaptive systems) provides a natural and necessary foundation and set of tools to analyze mechanisms such as evolution, emergence, and regulation in these applications. The second objective of the article is to illustrate the use of two tools from complexity sciences to address a network transition problem in air transportation framed from the system‐of‐systems viewpoint and shaped by an industrial ecology perspective. A stochastic simulation consisting of network theory analysis combined with agent‐based modeling to study the evolution of an air transport network is presented. Patterns in agent behavior that lead to preferred outcomes across two scenarios are observed, and the implications of these results for decision makers are described. Furthermore, we highlight the necessity for future efforts to combine the merits of both system of systems and industrial ecology in tackling the issues of complexity in such large‐scale, sociotechnical problems.

Service Sector Metabolism: Accounting for Energy Impacts of the Montjuic Urban Park in Barcelona

This article evaluates, from an industrial ecology (IE) perspective, the energy performance of the services inside an urban system and determines their global environmental impact. Additionally, this study determines which are the most energy demanding services and the efficiency of their energy use per visitor and per surface area unit.The urban system under study is the Montjuïc urban park in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, which can be considered a services system. In this case study we distinguished the different patterns of consumption among the service fields and, by studying each field individually, found the most efficient facilities and identified the most critical services based on energy use per visitor or per square meter. These findings are based on the use of energy flow accounting (EFA), life‐cycle assessment (LCA), and the energy footprint to analyze the Park's technical energy consumption.Electricity consumption represents nearly 70% of the total energy consumed by the services at Montjuïc Park. The forest surface area required to absorb the CO2‐equivalent emissions produced by the life cycle of the energy consumed at Montjuïc Park represents 12.2 times the Park's surface area. We conclude this article by proposing the incorporation of the methods of IE within the study of parks containing multiple services to improve energy management, and as a result, to raise the global environmental performance of the service sector.

Electrodialysis with Bipolar Membranes for Sustainable Development

Electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) is a kind of technology that integrates solvent and salt dissociation. It can realize salt conversion without second salt pollution or provide H+ and OH-/alkoxide ions in situ without salt introduction. Thus, it inherently possesses economical and environmental benefits. Moreover, its technological compatibility gives rise to new functions when it couples with other technologies, such as complexion, ion exchange, extraction, and adsorption. In view of the above peculiarities, EDBM has found many interesting applications in chemistry, food processing, biochemical industries, and environmental protection. However, its development has been restricted by such factors as lack of recognition of its contribution to industrial ecology, high membrane cost, insufficient research investment, and scarce operation experience. This paper compiles an introduction to this technology from the perspective of industrial ecology and conducts an extensive examination into EDBM applications. Its purpose is to gather synergic strength from academia, industry, and government to perfect EDBM for sustainable development.

A newly developed integrated environment-quality approach for the design of hotel services

In the perspective of sustainability and industrial ecology, the need to dematerialise economies has become more important. As a consequence, the relative contribution of the service industries to the overall economic output is expected to increase. This entails a growing focus on service-related activities and their ability to meet consumer requirements and society's needs. Among the service industries, one that has become the object of an increased consumer interest is tourism. In this research work, we investigate the main aspects concerning the applicability of existing or newly developed integrated design tools to the above-mentioned service industry, with particular focus on lodging services. In particular, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) design tool is taken into account and its integration with life cycle-based instruments for environmental assessment is proposed and evaluated with the aim of improving the level of customer satisfaction and the compliance with environmental requirements in lodging services.

Consumption and the Rebound Effect: An Industrial Ecology Perspective

SummaryMeasures taken to protect the environment often have other, unintended effects on society. One concern is that changed behavior may offset part of the environmental gain, something that has variously been labeled “take‐back” or “rebound.” In energy economics, the rebound effect encompasses both the behavioral and systems responses to cost reductions of energy services as a result of energy efficiency measures. From an industrial ecology perspective, we are concerned about more than just energy use. Any given efficiency measure has several types of environmental impacts. Changes in the various impact indicators are not necessarily in the same direction. Both co‐benefits and negative side effects of measures directed to solve one type of problem have been identified. Environment is often a free input, so that a price‐based rebound effect is not expected, but other indirect effects not connected to the price, such as spillover of environmental behavior, also occur. If the costs and impact of products that are already environmentally friendly are reduced, the “rebound” can be in the opposite, desired direction. Furthermore, I identify technical spillover effects. Hence a number of related effects, often producing positive results, are not as well understood. Household environmental impact assessments and eco‐efficiency assessments take into account the rebound effect, but they do not necessarily take into account these other effects. The analysis hence indicates that the current focus on the rebound effect is too narrow and needs to be extended to cover co‐benefits, negative side effects, and spillover effects.

Learning from history or from nature or both? Recycling networks and their metaphors in early industrialisation

Despite widespread current beliefs to the contrary, much evidence indicates that past entrepreneurs, managers, and technicians were often able to create recycling networks between firms, in the process generating both economic and environmental benefits. The author shows that the basic insight of the industrial ecology metaphor, that is, using nature as a model or inspiration for creativity in loop-closing, was well understood in the second half of the 19th century. New evidence is presented to support these assertions, along with some speculations as to why the past industrial ecology perspective had to be independently rediscovered and popularised in recent years.

Commentary: regional environmental management systems: lessons and challenges for industrial ecology research

Industrial ecology has made a major contribution to the tools of corporate environmental management over the last ten years. However, it is argued that most of that contribution has been at the level of products and individual firms. It is argued that if the concept of industrial ecology is to be developed in a way that attracts public policy attention then it will have to demonstrate greater benefits at the sectoral and regional levels. One of the seeds of industrial ecology, the regional environmental management system (REMS), is advocated as a way to push industrial ecology approaches more broadly. Just as REMS likes to adopt a business-related tool to manage a region, so Industrial Ecology is, in part, a metaphor for businesses acting in a more interlinked regional way. There is therefore a great deal of synergy between these two concepts. Indeed, a REMS approach to industrial development can be much enhanced if businesses are able to take on an industrial ecology perspective. This paper therefore examines the synergies between the two approaches in the context of ecological modernisation theory and suggests a framework for the further development of them in parallel. This in turn raises issues that require further research that will hopefully be reflected in future pages of this new journal.

Applying the Principles of Industrial Ecology to the Guest‐Service Sector

SummaryIndustrial ecology (IE) has historically focused on manufacturing but could be applied more broadly, particularly to sectors of the economy not typically considered “dirty.” The guest‐service sector, for example, has a significant ecological footprint, often in environmentally sensitive areas, and would benefit from an IE perspective. Colorado's Aspen Skiing Company, which hosts 1.3 million skiers annually on 5, 000 acres of skiable terrain, is integrating concepts of energy efficiency, feedback, life‐cycle costing, nutrient cycling, renewable energy, ecosystem diversity, local sourcing, and human capital into operations at four ski areas and two hotels. An IE perspective offers the guest service sector a holistic view of its environmental impacts, a big‐picture view that is missing from an industry where environmentalism has historically meant “recycling” or end‐of‐pipe pollution control. Many industrial ecology principles are directly applicable to resorts, but implementers will encounter a host of obstacles cultural, institutional, and economic that express themselves in unique ways in the guest service sector. Written using firsthand experiences from Aspen's ski slopes, restaurants, and a five‐star hotel, this article explores what happens when the principles of industrial ecology are applied to the guest service sector, particularly what goes right, and what goes wrong.

Further Efforts to Clarify Industrial Ecology's Hidden Philosophy of Nature

SummaryAs an emerging discipline, industrial ecology represents a promising interdisciplinary field that studies industrial systems and their fundamental linkage with nature. At the root of its scientific profile lies a refreshingly different perspective on nature as a model in comparison with other disciplines' orthodox understanding nature in terms of a “sack of resources” the “biophysical limit”“something outside”“surrounding” or just “environment”. In contrast to these phrases, industrial ecology's perspective indicates an important change in the interpretation of nature, from the interest in intervening in or preserving nature toward an orientation by nature, from the comprehension of nature as an object toward understanding nature as a model, and from exploiting natural resources toward learning from nature as, in part, an ideal. This characteristic perspective of industrial ecology is typically stated with an appealing natural ecosystem metaphor and based on an analogy between industrial systems and natural ecosystems. On the basis of initial efforts to conceptualize industrial ecology's underlying assumptions concerning nature, a philosophically focused analysis of nature as a model is presented. Industrial ecology's implicit philosophy of nature is thus uncovered and clarified. Finally, a set of arguments drawing on the philosophy of science and on Kantian epistemology and philosophical anthropology is provided to gain greater conceptual clarity and to contribute to laying a solid foundation for industrial ecology's stimulating role in achieving sustainability at large.

Quantitative assessment of solid waste treatment systems in the industrial ecology perspective by exergy analysis.

Solid waste treatment options (recycling, incineration, and landfilling; the two latter processes both with co-generation of heat and electricity) have been studied for cardboard, newspaper, polyethylene, poly(ethylene terephthalate), polypropylene, polystyrene, and poly(vinyl chloride) waste. The conversion processes have been analyzed in terms of the second law of thermodynamics. The analysis allows calculating the exergy (useful energy) embodied in conversion products that can be obtained from the required inputs for the treatment processes. Taking into account the waste materials and the resources to convert them, it proved that recycling is the most efficient option for polyethylene with an efficiency of 62.5% versus 43.6% for incineration and 0.9% for landfilling. Next, waste treatment has been put into the broader perspective of industrial ecology. Exergetic efficiencies of industrial metabolic options have been calculated. Here resources for manufacturing and converting solid products have been considered. Furthermore, selection of one type of conversion excludes the generation of other potential conversion products. Therefore, it has to be taken into account that these latter products still have to be produced starting from virgin resources. Recycling proved to be the most efficient strategy: the ratio eta between exergy embodied in all delivered products on one hand, and all exergy withdrawn from the ecosphere or from waste materials on the other hand, is the highest. For polyethylene, eta proved to be 0.568, whereas eta is 0.503 and 0.329 for incineration and landfilling, respectively. On the other hand, if R the ratio between exergy of delivered products on one hand and exergy of virgin materials on the other hand is calculated, the differences between the industrial metabolic options are larger. Recycling polyethylene showed a ratio R of 0.936, whereas ratios of 0.772 and 0.531 were found for incineration and landfilling, respectively. It has been shown that the exergy concept allows a quantitative comparison of different industrial metabolic options, contributing to a better assessment of sustainability of technology with respect to resource management.

Overcoming the Open System Problem in Local Industrial Ecological Analysis

Many environmental decisions must be made within places, such as cities, which are embedded in larger environmental and economic systems. The locally open character of these systems poses severe problems for advocates of the industrial ecology perspective, who pursue system-wide analysis and integrative, big-picture insights. This paper evaluates four strategies for overcoming the open system problem by applying them to Trenton, New Jersey. It finds that population-based impact analysis is easy but often lacks accuracy, comparative analysis often restates the obvious and is vulnerable to missing data, spatial analysis communicates well but currently lacks dynamism, multi-level analysis is difficult to explain but provides the richest insights and greatest adaptability, and local decision makers want specific rather than general insights.

Overcoming the Open System Problem in Local Industrial Ecological Analysis

Many environmental decisions must be made within places, such as cities, which are embedded in larger environmental and economic systems. The locally open character of these systems poses severe problems for advocates of the industrial ecology perspective, who pursue system-wide analysis and integrative, big-picture insights. This paper evaluates four strategies for overcoming the open system problem by applying them to Trenton, New Jersey. It finds that population-based impact analysis is easy but often lacks accuracy, comparative analysis often restates the obvious and is vulnerable to missing data, spatial analysis communicates well but currently lacks dynamism, multi-level analysis is difficult to explain but provides the richest insights and greatest adaptability, and local decision makers want specific rather than general insights.

Examining the environmental impact of lead-free soldering alternatives

In 1999, the Surface Mount Council identified the issue of lead-free electronics as an emerging area for concern and evaluation. This was triggered by the initial European Union's (EU) proposal for a Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and by the Japanese focus on environmental marketing and on recycling, which has resulted in timetables for lead elimination. The present EU directive on the elimination of lead from electronics by 2008 has added further urgency to this issue. From an industrial ecology perspective, it is essential to evaluate the environmental impact of the proposed alternatives and to compare this with that of the present Sn/Pb solder. Industrial ecology is the multidisciplinary study of industrial systems and economic activities, and their links to fundamental natural systems. Based on this definition, it is important to study the environmental impact of lead-free electronics through their entire life cycle. Factors such as alloy availability, processing considerations, energy use and potential ground water contamination must be considered. Based on these criteria, lead-free products are not more environmentally friendly than the present electronics soldered with Sn/Pb. Thus, the focus of future regulation should be on recovery and recycling of the metals at end-of-life as required in the WEEE rather than the elimination of lead-based solder.