Industrial ecology: a teenager's progress [An article from: Technology in Society]

This digital document is a journal article from Technology in Society, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Transforming the use of materials in product manufacture from a linear to a cyclic mode is the conceptual framework of industrial ecology (IE), a field about fourteen years old. The core of industrial ecology-the industrial ecosystem model-has become a framework for studying the interactions of the modern technological society with the environment. As an emerging field, IE has grappled with challenges such as establishing itself as a unique field, gaining academic merit, developing quality standards, and guiding applications in industrial operations. Within the context of such challenges, distinct research branches have emerged: conceptual framework studies, development of operational tools (e.g. design for environment), and systemic studies (e.g. industrial symbiosis). The field began by conceptualizing industrial systems and has now made the transition to gathering the data that characterize such systems. One of the greatest challenges now facing IE is applying the knowledge gleaned from these endeavors to defining and setting goals for sustainable technological activity and development.