SPM9539: Economy, Ecology and Technology of networked industrial complexes
2013-2014
Week 5 & 6: Assignment 5/6.
This combined assignment will focus on the possibilities for developing eco-industrial parks (EIP) with or within ‘your’ industry. The first part (assignment 5) focuses on the concept of eco-industrial parks, the second part (assignment 6) on how to bring them into being, the possibilities and pitfalls if not barriers to overcome.
1. What can you learn from natural/living ecosystems relevant for development of your industry/locale
a. What analogies
b. What differences, where do the analogies stop/fail?
c. Use of industrial ecology (IE) concepts prescriptive or descriptive?
2. Discuss the possibilities for your industry to develop into an “eco-industrial park”.
Pay attention to the following items:
a. The system level of integration and type of linkage (physical, information, knowledge)
b. The possibility of cross-linking between supply chains
c. The possibilities of closing loops of materials by combining sites from the same or other industries; the options for energy cascading
d. The possibilities of decarbonisation.
3. Who would need to take the lead - in your opinion – to move towards integrated industrial production methods in an EIP?
4. What obstacles do you see in the process towards an EIP?
