Industrial Ecology and Our Environment
Summary
Why Industrial Ecology makes sense by imitating nature. There is no waste in any system.
What is Industrial Ecology (IE)?
Industrial Ecology (IE) focuses on combining perpetually desirable outcomes in the environment, economy, and technology in a sustainable manner. There is a whole discipline that arises from this concept.
Here we apply IE as the practice of using technology to economically effect environmentally sound treatment of industrial wastewater. The ironic fact that Integrated Engineers (IE) practice IE is not lost on us.
The core tenet of IE is to look at technical systems analogous to natural systems, continuous perpetual systems (closed loops) rather than linear thinking from start to finish in a straight line.
Isn’t IE a contradiction in terms?
No. Industrial ecology seems like a bit of a contradiction in terms of the old school thinking paradigm, but today it is anything but that, not only a complementary process but beneficial to all sub-processes. And industrial ecology really is essentially running industry in an ecologically sensitive way, usually based on standards set by governments, but also on the shared values of shareholders, manufacturers, and consumers.
This concept of “industrial ecology” is part of the green technology movement.
IE is moving industrial processes from linear systems (open loop, end to end) where you normally end up with waste, to a closed loop (feedback) system where waste becomes inputs for the same process (recovery). wastewater) or new processes such as sludge that is used in the fields as fertilizer. In theory, this is a perpetual company which means “sustainable”, it can be sustained indefinitely.
“Sustainable” is one of the main tenets of the “green technology” movement.
Why is this desirable?
IE is desirable because as it moves closer to unifying the environment, economy, and ecology, it benefits all of them simultaneously, in a sense, increasing the “wins” for all three!
Learn more about how industrial ecology can increase profits.
