ABSTRACT
Industrial ecology is a young science that emerged in the late 1980s. It caught the public’s attention and imagination as a consequence of the realization by industrial managers at the Kalundborg Industrial Park in Denmark that their materials and energy waste streams were in fact not necessarily waste but potential resource inputs for the processes of their neighbors. The resulting exchange of former waste streams by the industries in Kalundborg prompted worldwide investigations into the “ecology” of industry and the effects of industry on ecology. Some promoters of industrial ecology would define it as “the science of sustainable development”. Ernie Lowe of Indigo Development in California views industrial ecology as an approach to managing human activity on a sustainable basis by seeking the essential integration of human systems into natural systems; minimizing energy and materials usage; and minimizing the ecological impact of human activity to levels that natural systems can sustainably absorb. He states that the objectives of industrial ecology are to preserve the ecological viability of natural systems; ensure acceptable quality of life for people; and maintain the economic viability of systems for industry, trade, and commerce. It is clear from this approach to industrial ecology that it can be applied to the broadest range of human activities, among them the creation and operation of the built environment. The question to be answered in the next few chapters is: What are the major lessons that can be learned from the experience of industrial ecology over the past decade that are applicable to the built environment? As is the case with examining ecology as to how it can and should inform construction, the difficulty at this point in time is to extract non-trivial, immediately useable principles and approaches for adoption by designers, builders, operators, and disposers of the built environment.
