Page 34 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

L1644_C01.fm Page 10 Monday, October 20, 2003 11:46 AM

Eco-design is intended to be the dematerialization and detoxification of the
design process. It has to do with taking off the highest possible amount of materials
— specifically, dangerous substances — without the product’s losing its function
(Fiksel, 1997; Brezet and Hemel, 1997; Rodrigo and Castells, 2002). Because a
product life-cycle is decided during the design and production planning phase,
influencing it in further phases is much more difficult.

1.4.6 INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
Industrial ecology (IE) entails an approximation of industrial systems to natural
systems. It deals with the systematic analysis of material and energy flows in
industrial systems with the purpose of minimizing waste generation and negative
environmental effects (Graedel, 1994).
IE provides a holistic approach (similar to that of life-cycle assessments [LCAs])
of industrial systems, based on its analogy with natural systems: wastes produced
by a living being become a source of raw material for another being. Industrial
ecology may be defined as a network of industrial systems that cooperate in reusing
waste energy and material within the same network; a waste flow from one of the
industrial members becomes a source of raw material useful for another member.
This industrial approximation is mainly associated with the concepts of eco-park,
industrial symbiosis, and industrial clustering. Close cooperation among different
industrial systems provides each member with higher efficiency levels in its industrial
activity at the same time that it provides a higher level of use of its waste energy
and material flows. This cooperation renders significant environmental and economic
benefits for each member.
A specific aspect of IE is the concept of industrial metabolism proposed by
Ayres in 1989; this concept consists of the process through which energy and
materials flow through industrial systems, starting from the source through various
industrial processes to the consumer and to final disposal (Ayres, 1996). Although
IE is the most comprehensive concept of those presented until now, it is based
on the idea that energy and materials flow within local, regional or global systems;
however, systems encompass several processes and are not exclusively intended
for a given product or service. According to the International Society for Industrial
Ecology (http://www.yale.edu/isie/), IE asks how an industrial system works, how
it is regulated, and how it interacts with the biosphere. Then, on the basis of what
is known about ecosystems, the goal is to determine how the system could be
restructured to make it compatible with the way natural ecosystems function.
This way it also includes socioeconomic issues related to sustainable develop-
ment.

1.5 TOOLS
The preceding concepts, which have been developed to direct environmental man-
agement, are quite abstract. This is why we need tools to transfer them into action
and make environmental aspects more concrete, taking into account economical,
social and technological information. The working group on conceptually related

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