What is Industrial Ecology:
Industrial Ecology (IE) is the study of the earths ecosystems and the natural symbiosis of the way that nature works together. Utilizing this diagram businesses can than work at incorporating these natural symbiosis's into their own processes.
The history of Industrial Ecology stems from an article that was introduced in 1989 by Robert Frosch and Nicholas E. Gallopoulos and was published in Scientific American. The article they wrote stated “"why would not our industrial system behave like an ecosystem, where the wastes of a species may be resource to another species? Why would not the outputs of an industry be the inputs of another, thus reducing use of raw materials, pollution, and saving on waste treatment?" (Frosch, R.A.; Gallopoulos, N.E. (1989))
An example of traditional business process (open loop system) would be a coal electricity plant suppling power to a city. While the city requires the electric for basic needs, the power plant also produces by-products that go unused and then are discarded as waste. The by-products produced by the power plant are steam, wasted heat, volatile ash, gypsum, and sludge.
The most famous example of a city utilizing industrial ecology and natural business symbiosis is Kalundborg, Denmark. The idea behind Kalundborg was that the businesses in the city would exploit each others waste products on a commercial basis. While the development of this unique community has developed of decades the initial operation was created around six processing companies: the power station, a plasterboard company, an oil refinery, a pharmaceutical plant, a biotech company, and of course a city.
The by-products of the power plant were then used as resources to produce the following: the wasted gypsum was turned into plasterboard, the volatile ash into concrete, the sludge was used to make roads, the wasted heat was utilized to heat the city and for a fish culture, and the steam was used by the oil refinery. If you would like to learn more about the symbiotic relationships at Kalundborg please go to http://www.symbiosis.dk/index.htm
Most of the success of IE revolves around the example of Kalundborg. It is a large successful working model of sustainability but yet there are not many other following the example that Kalundborg has set. This is due to the evolution of society that only makes changes when there is a finical need to do so. Currently there are cheap resources in the Americas that allow for companies to continue buying the resources they need with little thought to forming symbiotic relationships with other businesses that may be able to utilize their waste products.
While the future of IE cities is uncertain there are business out there today that are using natures examples and creating products that “close the loop”
http://www.indigodev.com/Kal.htmlIndustrial Ecology: An Introduction
