Industrial Ecology

Summary

In literature, there is a lot to find about the concept of Industrial Ecology. However, it is still being researched and the framework industrial ecology provides for practice keeps developing. The aim of this article is to provide some insight in the definitions of industrial ecology and in the similarities and differences between an ecosystem and an industrial system. This review is based on literature provided and found in online databases. An industrial system can be approached like an ecosystem because there are some similarities, like the use of resources and the flows of material. However, there are some differences, like the involvement of money within an industrial system, which one should be aware of when approaching an industrial system like an ecosystem. Industrial ecology knows several different definitions and descriptions. These all come down on the attributes like closing material cycles, systematic view of interactions within an industrial system, study of the flow of materials and energy in order to improve sustainable development. There is more to the previous, but these are some important one

Key words: Industrial ecology, ecosystems, industrial systems, review 

1. Introduction

Industrial Ecology is a still upcoming scientific discipline. It promotes a systemic approach to human problems like global warming and exhaustion of resources. It is argued that this concept will help to improve sustainable development. Since 1970, the idea of industrial ecology appeared in literature. From then on, more and more studies and practices about this particular subject have been published. Not only a lot of research has been done, this research is also been put into practice in several areas, for example in Kalundborg, Denmark. There is still no standard definition of industrial ecology but in literature it is describes in many different but similar ways. The objective of this study is to identify some similarities and differences between an ecosystem and an industrial system and to give an overview of some several different definitions of industrial ecology.

2. Methods

The work procedure contains a literature review on Industrial Ecology. Chapter 4 of Graedel and Allenby (2010) and Chapter 2 of Erkman and Ramaswamy (2003), and other online sources, found in the databases Google Scholar and Scopus, have been studied. Based on these information sources, the answers to the two questions, given below, have been described and discussed.

3. Results

This part will provide a description and discussion about the similarities and differences between an ecosystem and an industrial system and about the definitions of industrial ecology.