The industrial ecology refers to the discipline that companies have a role in improving the environment of which they form part. Their role is normally destined to make better use of certain resources or to improve the industrial processes they carry out in order to be more efficient.
Industrial ecology studies have focused a lot on analyzing the waste of materials and energy in order to establish how they have affected the environment. Consequences that can also be of a different nature (economic, social and obviously environmental).
Plant in Kalundborg, Denmark where bioenergy was produced. Source:, via Wikimedia Commons.
The development of this discipline has been important in order to establish norms and limits on the disposal of materials, but also to create new methods of using resources.
The growth of this area also depends on other factors, since technological changes are important to develop new ideas. His study has also focused on delving into the role that companies play when interacting with the ecosystem that surrounds them. Being a relatively new field, it is still in continuous change and development.
History
For a long time it was not established as a branch of its own. In the last 30 years there have been multiple initiatives that did not have greater relevance or support from the scientific communities or the industries themselves.
Although the term industrial ecology has already been used since 1960, it was during the 90s when its use began to be more recurrent. By then, a consensus on this discipline had not yet been reached and in some cases it was confused with industrial metabolism.
At first it was based on the economic context around the industries. Or it was also a term widely used by pressure groups that sought to create a body that could regulate the environmental impact produced by companies.
It was in Japan that an accurate definition of industrial ecology was first established. It happened in the 90s and the United States followed in the footsteps of Asians with the creation of organizations and the support of scientists who showed interest in the subject.
One of the most important advances occurred with the creation of the journal Industrial Ecology. Thus, since 1997 there was a publication that periodically made visible the problems, studies and advances in this field.
Currently, industrial ecology is one of the most important fields for caring for the environment.
goals
Undoubtedly, the main goal of industrial ecology is to improve or at least maintain the quality of the environment. It is already considered progress if the negative effects produced by the industries can be reduced. In this sense, the approach has been very inclined towards the search for methods that allow optimizing resources.
Industrial ecology tends to be very different from other sciences that study ecosystems. Companies have wanted to optimize resources, while other sciences focus on risk and have a role that tends more to solve problems instead of working on prevention.
One of the problems in setting much clearer objectives is that there are still discussions about the range of action of industrial ecology.
For some scholars, they should focus on the descriptive model of science, while others defend that it should have a prescriptive role so that it can work to improve this area of study.
It is relevant, because industries have generated a large number of changes to the ecosystem, which has had a negative impact on the stability of the planet.
Limits
Industrial ecology, being such a young discipline, is in constant development. That is why many of the elements that regulate the principles, procedures or range of action have not yet been defined.
Some ecologists in the area believe that it is important to include the study of social and even economic aspects to establish the action model.
Examples
During the 90s there was a boom in the creation of industries that were friendly to the environment. This was one of the most important advances in industrial ecology for the time. These new business models were called eco-industrial parks.
The objective was focused on creating workflows in which different companies could collaborate with each other, thanks to the exchange of materials obtained from waste. What was useless for one industry could become raw material for another or simply generate energy. In this way, the output of waste from the industries was reduced.
One of the most famous applications of these eco-industrial parks occurred in Denmark. In the city of Kalundborg energy industries have served as a boost for agriculture in the area.
These companies bring in a sludge left over from their energy creation processes that has been shown to be beneficial to local farms, which use it as fertilizer on plantations.
The role of countries
The implementation of new industrial models depends on many factors. Government support is often key, but not all focus on the same ecological issues.
The most powerful nations tend to invest more in industries and laws to take care of the environment in which they find themselves. This investment also translates into a greater amount of benefits for its inhabitants.
The United States is one of the pioneer countries in terms of seeking remedies to solve industrial problems and betting on the development of industries that generate benefits to the ecosystem. Despite this, Japan has been more effective in developing methods to be more energy efficient.
Also in Europe, countries such as Holland and Germany have taken the lead in the study and development of models that allow a high use of materials. They bet on the recovery of many consumer products.
References
- Ayres, L., & Ayres, R. (2002). Handbook of Industrial Ecology, A.
- Baas, L. (2005). Cleaner production and industrial ecology. Delft: Eburon.
- Bergh, J., & Janssen, M. (2004). Economics of industrial ecology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT.
- Boons, F., & Howard-Grenville, J. (2009). The social embeddedness of industrial ecology. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
- Green, K., & Randles, S. (2006). Industrial Ecology and Spaces of Innovation. Cheltenham: Elgar.
- Manahan, S. (1999). Industrial Ecology. Florida: CRC Press.
- Suh, S. (2010). Handbook of input-output economics in industrial ecology. Dordrecht: Springer.