Marian Chertow

The IPAT Equation and Its Variants

Summary In the early 1970s Ehrlich and Holdren devised a simple equation in dialogue with Commoner identifying three factors that created environmental impact. Thus, impact (I) was expressed as the product of (1) population, (P); (2) affluence, (A); and (3) technology, (T). This article tracks the various forms the IPAT equation has taken over 30 years as a means of examining an underlying shift among many environmentalists toward a more accepting view of the role technology can play in sustainable development. Although the IPAT equation was once used to determine which single variable was the most damaging to the environment, an industrial ecology view reverses this usage, recognizing that increases in population and affluence can, in many cases, be balanced by improvements to the environment offered by technological systems.

Organizing Self‐Organizing Systems

Industrial symbiosis examines cooperative management of resource flows through networks of businesses known in the literature as industrial ecosystems. These industrial ecosystems have previously been portrayed as having characteristics of complex adaptive systems, but with insufficient attention to the internal and external phenomena describing their genesis. Drawing on biological, ecological, organizational, and systems theory, a discontinuous three‐stage model of industrial symbiosis is presented. The model proceeds from a random formative stage involving numerous actors engaging in material and energy exchanges, to conscious recognition and intentional pursuit of network benefits, to institutionalization of beliefs and norms enabling successful collaborative behavior. While there is much variation, with no single path to this outcome, the recognition of benefits is seen as an emergent property characteristic of these self‐organized systems that move beyond the initial stage.

An Island Approach to Industrial Ecology: Towards Sustainability in the Island Context

Many fields of study have employed geophysical islands in experimental design with a great deal of success. An island is a closed and bounded system in many respects and presents a manageable unit of study. The island microcosm has been the basis for significant advances in areas such as evolutionary biology, ecosystem ecology and physical anthropology. The same properties that make islands so useful to scientists present island populations with pressing sustainability challenges of limited resource availability and natural carrying capacity. This paper discusses the characteristics of the island context to show the severity and immediacy of these challenges. Based on this discussion, it is apparent that new approaches are needed to address sustainable development on islands. Island systems and the study of industrial ecology, which examines industry embedded within the finite natural environment, have much to gain from one another in this respect. Several industrial ecology case studies, primarily drawn from research in Puerto Rico, are presented to illustrate the compatibility of islands as a study unit in this field. Industrial ecology presents new solutions to the challenges of sustainable island development, while well‐defined island systems offer a unique opportunity for the approach of industrial ecology.

From refining sugar to growing tomatoes: industrial ecology and business model evolution.

This article seeks to advance the understanding of the relationship between industrial ecology (IE) and business model innovation for sustainability as a means and driver of new value creation and competitive advantage by expanding the understanding of industrial symbiosis (IS) and internal symbiosis. This is explored through the case study of British Sugar, which, at the time of writing, is the UKs largest sugar producer by market share. Over the past three decades, the company has systematically sought opportunities to turn waste streams and emissions from their core production processes into useful and positive inputs to new product lines. Their core business is still sugar, but the business model has evolved to offer a broad range of additional synergistic and profitable product lines, including animal feed, electricity, tomatoes, and bioethanol. The research explores the temporal dimension of dynamic business model innovation, framing it in the context of a continuous evolutionary process rather than a discrete design activity. The case will be of interest as an additional contribution to the growing literature on IS; in offering an approach for linking the themes of IE literature and sustainable business model innovation more concretely in research and practice; and, by presenting the case as an evolutionary innovation process, the article furthers the emerging literature on business model innovation for sustainability.

Scholarship and Practice in Industrial Symbiosis: 1989–2014

Industrial symbiosis, a subfield of industrial ecology, engages traditionally separate industries and entities in a collaborative approach to resource sharing that benefits both the environment and the economy. This chapter examines the period 1989–2014 to “take stock” of industrial symbiosis. First, we look at the earliest days to discuss what inspired industrial symbiosis both in the scholarly literature and in practice. Next, we draw attention to certain dilemmas and sharpen the distinctions between industrial symbiosis and some related concepts such as eco-industrial parks and environmentally balanced industrial complexes. With regard to dissemination of industrial symbiosis ideas, we found that at the country level, China has now received the most attention in industrial symbiosis academic research and this continues to grow rapidly.

Waste Informatics: Establishing Characteristics of Contemporary U.S. Landfill Quantities and Practices

Waste generation is expected to increase in most countries for many decades with landfill disposal still the dominant solid waste management method1-3. Yet, operational characteristics of landfills are often poorly understood with comparative statistics substantially lacking. Here, we call for a more formal waste informatics to organize and standardize waste management knowledge at multiple spatial scales through analysis of recently reported data from 1232 U.S. landfills and other high resolution data sets. We create the first known estimate of available U.S. municipal waste stocks (8.5 billion tonnes) and go on to resolve these stocks at the county level, reflecting prospective urban mining opportunities. Our analysis of disposal rates and landfill capacities reveals that more than half of U.S. states have more than 25 years of life remaining. We also estimate the gross energy potential of landfill gas in the U.S. (338 billion MJ/yr) by examining 922 operational methane collection systems and demonstrate that the greatest energy recovery opportunities lie at landfills with existing collection systems and energy conversion infrastructure. Finally, we found that the number of landfills reaching the federally defined 30-year postclosure care period will more than triple in the coming two decades, with 264 sites expected by the year 2044, highlighting the need to develop and standardize metrics carefully to define and standardize when it is appropriate to end or scale back long-term landfill monitoring.

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Chinese Eco-Industrial Parks by Targeting Energy Infrastructure: A Vintage Stock Model

Mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Chinas industrial sector is crucial for addressing climate change. We developed a vintage stock model to quantify the GHG mitigation potential and cost effectiveness in Chinese eco-industrial parks by targeting energy infrastructure with five key measures. The model, integrating energy efficiency assessments, GHG emission accounting, cost-effectiveness analyses, and scenario analyses, was applied to 548 units of energy infrastructure in 106 parks. The results indicate that two measures (shifting coal-fired boilers to natural gas-fired boilers and replacing coal-fired units with natural gas combined cycle units) present a substantial potential to mitigate GHGs (42%-46%) compared with the baseline scenario. The other three measures (installation of municipal solid waste-to-energy units, replacement of small-capacity coal-fired units with large units, and implementation of turbine retrofitting) present potential mitigation values of 6.7%, 0.3%, and 2.1%, respectively. In most cases, substantial economic benefits also can be achieved by GHG emission mitigation. An uncertainty analysis showed that enhancing the annual working time or serviceable lifetime levels could strengthen the GHG mitigation potential at a lower cost for all of the measures.

Exploring Greenhouse Gas‐Mitigation Strategies in Chinese Eco‐Industrial Parks by Targeting Energy Infrastructure Stocks

Summary China has more than 1,500 industrial parks, which, collectively, play a crucial role in facilitating industrialization and urbanization. A key characteristic of these parks is that most rely on shareable energy infrastructure, an efficient configuration that can also deliver substantial and sustainable reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study offers strategies for mitigating GHG emissions from Chinese industrial parks. We focus on extensive data collection for the 106 industrial parks listed in the national demonstration eco-industrial park (EIP) program. In doing so, we carefully examine the evolution of 608 serviceable energy infrastructure units by vintage year, fuel type, energy output, and technologies of combined heat and power units. We assess direct GHG emissions from both energy infrastructure and the parks, and then identify the features and driving forces of energy infrastructure development in the EIPs. We also offer recommendations for ways to mitigate the GHG emissions from these industrial parks. The energy infrastructure stocks in Chinese EIPs are characterized by heavy coal dependence (87% of capacity) and high ratios of direct GHG emissions versus the total direct emissions of the park (median value: 75.2%). These findings establish a baseline from which both technology and policy decisions can then be made in an informed way.

Inter-Sectoral Bisphenol A (BPA) Flows in the 2012 Chinese Economy

Bisphenol A (BPA), a widely used petrochemical compound, has become an emerging global environmental management challenge because its leakage is associated with potential environmental and human health impacts. Until now, available BPA statistics have been limited to the products that directly use BPA. In this study, we delineate direct and indirect BPA flows for the 2012 Chinese economy. We find that construction, production of educational and recreational products, and automobile manufacturing are the most BPA-intensive sectors in terms of total BPA flows (300, 157, and 130 Gg total BPA flows, respectively). The public management and health sectors, however, incur significant indirect BPA flows, defined as embedded and inter-sectoral BPA placed into use, even though direct BPA use by these sectors is limited. By revealing the currently overlooked indirect BPA flows, this study reveals data gaps that are highly relevant to improving the accuracy of estimated BPA flows and losses. The method used herein is transferrable to other emerging and environmentally relevant materials, thereby providing the holistic understanding needed for cities, regions, or nations to design effective policy interventions.

Reusing Nonhazardous Industrial Waste Across Business Clusters

Publisher Summary Nonhazardous industrial waste (NHIW) is distinct from both municipal solid waste (MSW), the more familiar mix from homes and businesses, and hazardous waste, materials that are more highly regulated owing to their toxicity and related public health concerns. The sheer quantities of NHIW raise the question of how best to manage it. The first defense is cleaner production—generating less waste by increasing industrial efficiency and effectiveness. A broad range of companies now produce annual sustainability reports detailing the amount of waste reduced in particular categories, year to year. For wastes that continue to be generated, many large volume industrial streams are amenable to separate handling such as foundry sand, coal ash, and paper mill sludge, some of these streams have an excellent track record for reuse. Specifically, industrial symbiosis is part of a new field called industrial ecology. Industrial ecology is principally concerned with the flow of materials and energy through systems at different scales, from products to factories and up to national and global levels. Industrial symbiosis focuses on these flows through networks of businesses and other organizations in local and regional economies as a means of approaching ecologically sustainable industrial development. It engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products. The keys to industrial symbiosis are collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity.