Embedding Science in Politics: "Complex Utilization" and Industrial Ecology as Models of Natural Resource Use

Throughout the short history of industrial ecology, issues of implementation have been heavily emphasized. Less attention has been given to the ways in which the technical models of industrial ecology interact with social processes. Yet the practitioners of industrial ecology frequently encounter challenges pertaining to contextualization when embedding a general model in different local contexts. In addition, there are reasons to believe that the models of industrial ecological systems become politically meaningful only when they are carefully contextualized and linked to localized needs. In this article, we aim at a better understanding of the political embedding of industrial ecology. In order to demonstrate some general mechanisms of embedding, we first conduct a frame analysis of complex utilization—a scientific policy instrument analogous to industrial ecology, developed in the Kola Peninsula, Russia. We identify five frames in which complex utilization has been promoted between 1935 and 2005. These frames are then compared to six frames identified in the industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg, Denmark. We find that effective political embedding relies on frames that function both on a general level and in specific contexts. General frames, such as efficiency, economy, and environment, need to be aligned with localized perceptions of particular issues. What is more, sensitivity to purely context-specific frames is necessary for effective political embedding. Finally, the political processes of framing also shape the scientific-technical models that are being promoted.     

Industrial Ecology in Practice: The Evolution of Interdependence at Kalundborg

The exchange of wastes, by-products, and energy among closely situated firms is one of the distinctive features of the applications of industrial ecological principles. This article examines the industrial district at Kalundborg, Denmark, often labeled as an "industrial ecosystem" or "industrial symbiosis" because of the many links among the firms. The forces that led to its evolution and to the interdependencies are described and analyzed. Key has been a sequence of independent, economically driven actions. Other potential forms of industrial linkages are critically reviewed in the light of the Kalundborg experience. The evolutionary pattern followed at Kalundborg may not be easily transferable to greenfield developments.     

生命周期方法在产业共生系统环境效益评价中的应用——研究进展及问题分析

近年来,产业共生作为产业生态学最具特征的领域引起了相关研究者的广泛关注。当前的研究逐渐从产业共生系统的定性描述分析转向定量的系统评价上。传统的产业共生系统环境效益评价仅仅关注共生系统本身,而忽视了占环境影响20%—50%的上、下游过程及替代过程的环境影响,为了得到客观的、系统的环境影响评价,将生命周期分析方法引入产业共生效益评价显得尤为重要。首先回顾了生命周期分析方法在产业共生研究中的发展过程,接着评述了3种生命周期分析方法在产业生态研究中的优劣势。并重点分析了将生命周期思想引入产业共生效益评价方法存在的功能单位设定问题及系统边界的选择问题。最后,呼吁为避免隐形污染的转移,必须尽快将生命周期分析的方法和管理理念引入我国生态工业园设计、规划、评价和管理的全过程中。     

“Uncovering” Industrial Symbiosis

Since 1989, efforts to understand the nature of interfirm resource sharing in the form of industrial symbiosis and to replicate in a deliberate way what was largely self‐organizing in Kalundborg, Denmark have followed many paths, some with much success and some with very little. This article provides a historical view of the motivations and means for pursuing industrial symbiosis—defined to include physical exchanges of materials, energy, water, and by‐products among diversified clusters of firms. It finds that “uncovering” existing symbioses has led to more sustainable industrial development than attempts to design and build eco‐industrial parks incorporating physical exchanges. By examining 15 proposed projects brought to national and international attention by the U.S. President's Council on Sustainable Development beginning in the early 1990s, and contrasting these with another 12 projects observed to share more elements of self‐organization, recommendations are offered to stimulate the identification and uncovering of already existing “kernels” of symbiosis. In addition, policies and practices are suggested to identify early‐stage precursors of potentially larger symbioses that can be nurtured and developed further. The article concludes that environmentally and economically desirable symbiotic exchanges are all around us and now we must shift our gaze to find and foster them.     

中国产业共生发展模式的国际比较及对策

产业共生和生态工业园区已经成为世界范围内产业生态化转型的重要手段之一。在厘清产业共生发展模式内涵的基础上,借鉴商业模式的划分准则辨识了世界范围内6种产业共生模式:丹麦卡伦堡模式、美国模式、英国模式、日本模式、韩国模式和中国模式。从关键参与者、核心能力以及资金流3个维度对这些模式进行了辨识,重点比较了我国产业共生与其他模式的差别。研究表明,我国产业共生实践数量众多,在关键参与主体、核心能力培育和资金流等方面存在丰富的多样化,虽然形成了一定的中国特色,但并没有形成固定的"中国模式"。可以说,我国的产业共生实践还停留在初级阶段,下一步可持续的发展必须要建立合理的管制架构、形成稳定的资金支持机制和培育核心竞争能力。初级提出了我国产业共生和生态工业园区建设的政策建议。     

Industrial Waste Reuse and By‐product Synergy Optimization

By‐product synergy is a growing practice worldwide. It consists in the maximization of resources utilization with the replacement of raw materials by by‐products as inputs for industrial processes. In order to support decision making in such strategic projects, appropriate tools must be developed. This article presents the results of a research project, which includes the development of a multiobjective mathematical programming model for the optimization of by‐product flows, synergy configurations, and investment decisions in eco‐industrial networks. This model is evaluated using data related to the Kalundborg industrial symbiosis (IS) in order to illustrate its utilization, as well as to assess, in a retrospective manner, the behavior of the companies involved with respect to both economic and environmental benefits of synergies. The experiments also illustrate the influence of the municipality on synergy implementation and how a scenario‐based approach can be used to anticipate raw material price increase. The results are generally coherent with the actual timing of synergy initializations. Further, the considerable effect of water price on the length of investments’ payback period illustrates the impact of policies and regulations on IS.     

工业生态学的内涵与发展

作为一门发展不到20a的综合性交叉学科,工业生态学目前需要界定其学术范畴和理论基础.首先评述了工业生态学的4个主要领域:(1)社会代谢是工业生态学起源最早也是发展最为成熟的领域.它提供了宏观层次上观察和测量经济发展与物质流动关系的方法和工具,但需要进一步细化物质流动图景和加强流动机制的解释;(2)工业共生是工业生态学最具特征的领域.它实质上是人们出于观察视角的转变而对工业体系的重新认识.逻辑严谨且规则统一的解释框架有助于工业共生理论的发展和实践;(3)基础设施与产业相互选择且协同演进,二者共同构成了城市的物质基础,而城市又是更大范围内区域经济系统的子集.这一组工业生态学的研究对象需要处理产业全球化与社会和生态要素本土化的矛盾;(4)工业发展的可持续性是工业生态学关注的核心目标,而多样性和复杂性给其研究带来了很大的挑战.这提醒我们要避免陷入简单化、还原论或机械论的陷阱,多开展实证研究.最后,从本体论、方法论和隐喻3个标准给出了工业生态学的初步界定,并指出4个重要的努力方向.     

Exploring Space,Exploiting Opportunities

Industrial ecology (IE) has recognized the relevance of space in various areas of the field. In particular, industrial symbiosis has argued for proximity and the colocation of firms to reduce emissions and costs from transport. But, space is also relevant for industrial ecosystems more widely. These spatial principles have rarely been spelled out analytically and this article does so. From economic geography, we now have frameworks and analytical tools to undertake this kind of analysis. Using the example of ports and their hinterland, we argue for spatial analyses in IE.     

基于GIS的产业生态学研究述评

产业生态学由于缺少关于空间分析的工具,使得研究结果因缺乏空间维度信息而影响对管理效率和精准度的支持。基于GIS的产业生态学相关研究已成为产业生态学研究的一个新的方向。为总结已有的研究成果并展望未来的研究方向,运用文献计量及对比分析的手段,系统分析了国内外基于GIS的产业生态学的相关研究进展,得出以下结论:当前基于GIS的产业生态研究主要集中在物质代谢、产业共生和生命周期评价3个方面,将GIS技术引入到物质代谢研究中,可以更好的展示物质代谢的时空分布格局,为物质代谢研究提供了一种新的方法;基于GIS技术,不仅可以更加高效地挖掘潜在的产业共生机会,还可应用于生态产业园的规划管理如企业的选址、空间布局等以及废弃物的回收再利用方面;将GIS与LCA耦合在一起,可以很好地补充、完善和管理传统数据,有助于探索产品、活动或工艺的环境影响的空间特性以及进行土地利用相关的环境影响评价。另外,国内外研究的侧重点也不尽相同。在物质代谢研究中,国内研究较少,仅在城市尺度上进行了基础设施的物质代谢及其存量分析,国外在国家、城市尺度上研究了铜、锌等金属的物质代谢情况;在产业共生研究中,国内侧重于生态产业园的研究,而国外侧重于城市尺度的产业共生机会识别的研究;在LCA的研究中,国内开展了基于GIS的生命周期评价数据库和产品材料信息管理系统的研究,而国外侧重于进行区域化的生命周期评价、进行土地利用影响类型的相关评价以及污染物的追踪,国内在该方面尚处于起步阶段。国内外在研究方法上存在共性,都是基于GIS的空间分析方法、缓冲区分析方法以及数据库技术等。未来将GIS作为一个平台,面向产业转型展开产业生态学综合理论方法的研究,可以为产业的可持续性管理提供有效支持。     

The Ecosystem: Model or Metaphor?

Industrial ecology offers an original way of looking at economic activities. The approach is based on an analogy between certain objects studied by the science of ecology (ecosystems, metabolisms, symbiosis, biocenosis, etc.) and industrial systems. However, this analogical relationship raises difficulties due to the various interpretations to which it is open. Although there is agreement regarding its heuristic function, the analogy can nevertheless be understood either as a model or as a metaphor. The present article first attempts to show how models differ from metaphors. It then sets out to justify the epistemological relevance of this distinction for industrial ecology research. The reflection should thus contribute to clarifying the debate on the (supposed or desired) role of analogy in the field of industrial ecology and heighten the interest this field of investigation represents for implementing sustainable development.     

The Impact of Scale,Recycling Boundary,and Type of Waste on Symbiosis and Recycling

Innovative waste recycling through industrial processes such as industrial and urban symbiosis has long been practiced and recently received much attention in the field of industrial ecology, with researchers making efforts to identify key contributing factors to successful industrial symbiosis. By analyzing 88 sample recycling projects in 23 eco‐towns in Japan, this article focuses on the factors of project scale, recycling boundary, and types of waste in relationship to environmental benefits and operational performance. The results showed that larger eco‐towns achieved more savings of virgin materials and higher stability in operation. Large‐scale projects tended to locate closer to the users of recycled products than did small‐scale projects. For treating similar types of waste, projects producing recycled products for special users (e.g., feedstock to a blast furnace for iron production) tended to locate closer to the users than those not producing for special users. The type of waste had a strong effect on the savings of virgin materials and recycling boundaries, while local factors had significant impacts on operational performance. The results also showed that agglomeration did not significantly contribute to the environmental benefits or operational performance of eco‐town projects. Another finding was that national agencies were helpful for facilitating cross‐prefecture transportation and long‐distance transaction of wastes. Implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Governing the Interplay between Industrial Ecosystems and Environmental Regulation

Many scholars of industrial ecology have focused on the institutional and organizational challenges of building and maintaining regional industrial symbiosis through the synergistic integration of material and energy flows. Despite the promise that these intellectual developments hold for the future dematerialization of industrial production, they rarely address the actual regulatory obstacles of turning wastes into raw materials. In this article we introduce a potential future industrial symbiosis around the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland and Sweden, and assess the regulatory bottlenecks related to waste by‐product consideration. We find that although the Gulf of Bothnia region has technological and economic potential for industrial symbiosis, the regulatory support for this is insufficient. We suggest a common pool resource‐based governance system that could utilize market and regulatory mechanisms in a regional‐level cross‐border system of governance. Importantly, the suggested governance system would protect the users of potential raw materials from unpredictable waste regulation, market risks related to large‐scale material flows, and societal risks of hazardous waste treatment.     

国内外产业共生网络研究比较述评

产业共生网络是指基于物质及能量交换以及知识及基础设施共享而形成的在不同产业主体之间的合作共赢网络,是产业转型升级的重要保障。作为产业共生的运作方式,产业共生网络的研究国外从20世纪90年代开始从概念到实例就展开了一系列探讨,国内自2002年也开始在网络结构等方面开展相关研究。尤其在2008年以后,产业共生网络的研究方向不断拓宽,研究成果丰富多样。为明晰国内外产业共生网络研究的发展态势,促进产业共生网络理论体系的发展并使其得到有效应用。本文从共生网络内涵、结构、功能及评价、演化、管理调控等方面比较分析了国内外产业共生网络的研究进展,并对产业共生网络的发展前景做了展望。未来产业共生网络研究在不同尺度的比较及推演、数据信息平台的搭建以及产业共生网络演化模拟及管理调控的耦合等方面需重点关注。     

Industrial symbiosis in the forestry sector: A case study in southern Brazil

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is an important concept in the field of industrial ecology that has disseminated worldwide as a practice to decrease the ecological impact of industrial processes through the exchange of by‐products and waste between units in a system. The forestry industry is the main economic activity in the region of Lages in southern Brazil. IS relationships have expanded with the use of waste material from wood processing and strengthened cooperation between companies in different sectors. The aims of this article were to: a) quantify the level of IS in the system, b) identify the benefits of IS for participants, and c) explain why the network further developed IS to the formation of an industrial ecosystem. A questionnaire was administered during visits to 24 forestry companies in order to analyze their products and processes, commercial relations, positive impacts, and local insertion. The industrial symbiosis indicator (ISI) was determined using waste stream data from the system to represent the level of symbiosis among the companies in this region. The results show that the companies participate in a symbiotic network, mainly involving the exchange of chips, bark, sawdust and shavings. In most cases, these exchanges occur between nearby companies, constituting an extensive industrial ecosystem.     

Redesigning the Industrial Ecology of the Automobile

This article explores the potential of industrial ecology to inform the redesign of an existing industry: that which is concerned with the production, sale, and support of automobiles. In so doing, it brings together the concepts embedded in industrial ecology with issues of economic scale, product design or technology, process technology, and the way in which new combinations of these features can result in an alternative structure for the automotive industry that has the potential to enhance sustainability performance. In so doing, the article advances the general argument that the economic, technical, and spatial organization of production and consumption are co-determined in a manner that collectively shapes the industrial ecology of an industry. In contradistinction to the prevailing industry, the article then advances the concept of micro factory retailing as an alternative framework for the industry that would result in significantly different performance in terms of industrial ecology.     

Assessing the “Short Mental Distance” in Eco‐Industrial Networks

Like many economic exchanges, industrial symbiosis (IS) is thought to be influenced by social relationships and shared norms among actors in a network. While many implicit references to social characteristics exist throughout the literature, there have been few explicit attempts to operationalize and measure the concepts. The “short mental distance,”“trust,”“openness,” and “communication” recorded among managers in Kalundborg, Denmark, set a precedent for examining and encouraging social interactions among key personnel in the dozens of eco‐industrial networks around the world. In this article we explore the relationships among various aspects of social embeddedness, social capital, and IS. We develop a conceptual framework and an approach using quantitative and qualitative methods to identify and measure these social characteristics, including social network structure, communication, and similarities in norms and conceptions of waste, and apply them in an industrial network in Nanjangud, South India. The findings suggest that there is a fairly high level of shared norms about dealing with waste—the “short mental distance”—in this network, but by‐product transactions are only weakly correlated with the structure and content of communication among managers. Replication of this approach can increase the understanding and comparability of the role of social characteristics in eco‐industrial activities around the world.     

中国产业生态学发展的回顾与展望

作为一门探讨产业发展与生态环境之间相互关系的学科,产业生态学需要对我国生态化转型重大战略选择做出贡献。本文回顾与评述了产业生态学在我国的发展,指出产业生态学在我国的起源具有多源性,既有着中国传统哲学的传承,也有着多种工程学科的经验升华,还有着前苏联经验的烙印。在进入新世纪后,我国产业生态学的发展开始深受西方学术的影响,逐渐建立起较为系统的教育、研究和组织体系。这些成果体现在课程开设、学科建设、机构成立和研究发表等方面。本专栏评述了其中的代表性领域并收录了相关成果,例如生命周期评价和产业共生等。在探讨产业生态学学科发展的现实性、理论性及政治性基础上,提出了需要进一步观察、总结和提炼过去的发展实践,需要关注中国根本性和战略性的核心问题,需要建构产业生态学的中国学派,需要加速建设产业生态学的教育和学科发展体系,并接受生态文明转型这一历史使命的挑战,为中国乃至世界产业生态学发展以及产业生态化做出贡献。     

‘Habitat’ Suitability Index Mapping for Industrial Symbiosis Planning

By ‘working with the willing’, the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) has successfully facilitated industrial symbiosis throughout the United Kingdom and, in the process, delivered significant economic and environmental benefits for both Programme members and the country as a whole. One of the keys to NISP's success is that, unlike failed attempts to plan and construct eco‐industrial systems from scratch, the Programme works largely with existing companies who have already settled in, developed, and successfully operate within a given locale. This article argues that existing and mature industrial systems provide the best prospects for identifying opportunities for, and ultimately facilitating, industrial symbiosis. Due to levels of diversification and operational fundamental niches that, in the fullness of time, develop within all industrial systems, industrially mature areas are deemed to be industrial symbiosis ‘conducive environments’. Building on the conservation biology concept of a habitat suitability index, the article presents a methodology for comparing a potential site for eco‐industrial development to a known baseline industrial ‘habitat’ already identified as being highly conducive to industrial symbiosis. The suitability index methodology is further developed and applied to a multi‐criteria evaluation geographic information system to produce a ‘habitat’ suitability map that allows practitioners to quickly identify potential industrial symbiosis hotspots (the methodology is illustrated for England). The article concludes by providing options for the development of symbiosis suitability indices and how they can be used to support the facilitation of industrial symbiosis and regional resource efficiency.     

A Failure Reveals Success

Although environmental education and education for sustainable development have become well‐established areas of scholarship and practice, there has not been a similar development focused on “industrial ecology education.” A review of the historical context and guiding philosophies for each of these areas finds many similarities, as well as key differences. Environmental education traces its modern roots to the idealism of the 1960s and 1970s. It has focused mostly on improving environmental conditions. Education for sustainable development arose along with international concerns about social justice. It has emphasized general education as well as education about sustainability as necessary to ensure human prosperity. Industrial ecology, in its contemporary form, evolved as an applied approach to address environmental concerns and to meet sustainability goals. It has developed into a diverse, multifaceted approach to address the complexity inherent in industrial society. Education focused on industrial ecology remains decentralized, with core principles and tools being integrated into existing disciplinary programs as well as development of industrial‐ecology–specific curricula. These efforts have not coalesced into a formalized, industrial ecology education. Rather than reflecting a shortcoming, this potentially offers a more robust method for applying industrial ecology principles and tools widely.