ABSTRACT

Identifying the underlying problem is quite straightforward when looking at the sources of a potential global carbon crisis from an industrial ecology point of view. Companies have a major role to play in attempting to achieve a low-carbon society. Given that businesses have a substantial contribution to the evolving carbon crisis and firms will be increasingly exposed to carbon constraints, it is important that they incorporate low-carbon thinking within their overall strategies. A number of initiatives have been developed in the direction of industrial symbiosis, which also contribute to increased carbon efficiencies. The intention is to develop a climate-friendly city based on solar power. The most prominent example in this context is the DESERTEC project, which is hailed by some as being the most ambitious and large-scale project conceived in renewable energy to date.