PowerPoint Presentation - History of Ecology and Agriculture

Industrial ecology
&
Life Cycle Assessment
Dr. Santosh Kumar Sharma
M.Sc. (Botany), M.Phil. (Envi. Mgmt.), Ph.D. (Botany)
Mobile No. 09406660463; Email: santosh_ujj@yahoo.com
Introduction
Deals with the relationship
“Industry” + “Ecology”.
between
The word ecology is derived from the
Greek oikos, (household) and logy (the
study of).
Eugene Odum: The study of households
including the plants, animals, microbes,
and people that live together as
interdependent beings on Spaceship
Earth.
Ecology can be broadly defined as the
study of the interactions between the
abiotic and the biotic components of a
system.
Defining Industrial Ecology
“Industrial ecology is the study of the interactions between
industrial and ecological systems; consequently, it addresses
the environmental effects on both the abiotic and biotic
components of the ecosphere”.
“an effort to reduce the industrial systems’ environmental
impacts on ecological systems.”
“an emphasis on harmoniously integrating industrial activity
into ecological systems.”
“the idea of making industrial systems more efficient and
sustainable by emulating natural systems”
closely related concepts – industrial ecosystems, industrial
metabolism, industrial symbiosis etc.
Why Industrial Ecology…?
 Population is growing
Our current interaction with nature.
 Pollution is constantly increasing and
(Pesticides, heavy metals etc.)
 Nature's productive ability is declining
(Farmland, oceans, forests etc.)
 Environmental legislation
 Role of media - as environmental
proponents reporting environmental
damage.
The solution will be an approach that allows the two
systems to coexist without threatening each other’s
viability
Historical Development
• The publication of the Club of
Rome’s report The Limits to
Growth received considerable
public attention.
• In
1989,
Robert
Ayres
developed the concept of
industrial metabolism.
Robert A.
Frosch
Nicholas E.
Gallopoulus
• The official beginnings of Industrial Ecology as a field of study can be
traced to a article – Strategies for Manufacturing – Scientific American 261;
September 1989, 144–152 by Frosch and Gallopoulos .
Historical Development
• The first textbook (Industrial
Graedel and Allenby, 1995).
Ecology;
• The first university degree program (created
by the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology [NTNU] in 1996).
• T. E. Graedel’s appointment as the first
professor of industrial ecology in 1997.
• The birth of the Journal of Industrial Ecology
in 1997, and the foundation of the
International Society for Industrial Ecology
(ISIE) in 2001.
Goals of Industrial Ecology
• To promote sustainable development
at the global, regional, and local levels.
• The sustainable use of resources.
• Preserving
health.
ecological
• Promotion of
(Intersocietal)
• Minimal
resources.
and
environmental
use
of
human
equity
nonrenewable
• High degree of interconnectedness
and integration that exists in nature
Key Concepts of Industrial Ecology
(i) Systems Analysis
(ii) Multidisciplinary Approach
(iii) Material-Flow Analysis
(iv) Analogies to Natural Systems
• The natural environment is a resilient, self-regulating, productive
system.
• There is ‘waste’ in nature.
• Materials and energy are continually circulated and transformed.
• Concentrated toxins are not stored or transported in bulk.
• Cooperation and competition are interlinked, held in balance.
(i) Linear (Open) Versus
Cyclical (Closed) Loop
Systems
Evolution from a Type I to
a Type III system
The shifting of industrial
Unlimited
Resources
and Energy
Unlimited
Space for
Waste
Type I Industrial Ecology
Energy &
Limited
Resources
process from linear (open
loop) systems, in which
resource
and
capital
investments move through
the system to become
waste,
Industrial
Activity
Industrial
Activity
with some
Recycling
Type II Industrial Ecology
Industrial Activity with
Energy
To
a closed loop system where
wastes become inputs for
new processes.
Limited
Waste
Total Resource
Conservation
Type III Industrial Ecology
The current state of Industrial Ecology
Currently focuses on the development of two interrelated areas, analysis
and design
IE analysis: deals with mapping resource consumption at various system
boundaries. There are a number of theoretical elements:
• Physical accounting: resource stocks and flows across system boundaries;
• Natural capital: ecosystem as a means for production;
• Ecological economics: relates economic theory to natural behaviors;
• Systems complexity: making generalities about the natural ecosystem
In addition, IE analysts utilize a varied set of unique tools and methods:
• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA):
• IPAT equation: used to identify necessity for technological improvement;
P= product of population, A= affluence of the population or resource
intensity per capita, and T= impact per resource (technology).
• Resource metrics: energy, emergy, and exergy are properties of pieces in
a system that can be measured and optimized; and
• Environmental footprint: The placement of anthropogenic environmental
impact into standardized, limited units to quantify the theoretical
environmental qualities.
IE Design: Some guiding principles for IE engineering:
• Dematerialization: the quest to achieve the same
service for less resources;
• Green chemistry: a reduction in the use and production
of pollution and toxins in industry;
• Distributed energy: development of methods for smallscale, site-appropriate, resilient power generation
facilities; and
• Closing loops: finding uses for waste flows from
industrial processes or re-engineering material
processes to generate usable waste and recyclable
products.
Industrial Ecology as a Potential Umbrella for Sustainable
Development Strategies:
Pollution prevention – “the use of materials, processes, or practices
that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants at the source”
(U.S. EPA)
Waste minimization – “the reduction, to the extent feasible, of
hazardous waste that is generated or subsequently treated, sorted,
or disposed of” (U.S. EPA)
Source reduction – any practice that reduces the amount of any
hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant entering any waste
stream or otherwise released into the environmental prior to
recycling, treatment or disposal.
Total quality environmental management (TQEM) – used to monitor,
control, and improve a firm’s environmental performance within
individual firms.
Types of Industrial Ecosystems
 Local, Regional, National, Global
 Industrial Symbiosis
 The Eco-Industrial Park
Example of Industrial Ecology
At Kalundborg, the pattern of cooperation is described as „industrial
symbiosis‟ or a pioneering „industrial ecosystem‟.
Industrial environmental cooperation at the town of Kalundborg, 80
miles west of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Industries exchange wastes
Companies made agreements 70s – 90s
The cooperation involves among
 Asnaes – Coal-fired power plant
 Statoil – Oil Refinery
 Gyproc – plasterboard company
 Novo Nordisk – biotechnology company
 a sulfuric acid producer, cement producers, local agriculture and
horticulture, district heating in Kalundborg.
Industrial Ecology in Kalundborg
 Saves resources:




30% better utilization of fuel using combined
heat + power than producing separate
Reduced oil consumption
3500 less oil-burning heaters in homes
Does not deplete fresh water supplies
 New source of raw materials

Gypsum, sulfuric acid, fertilizer, fish farm
An Eco-Industrial Park in Devens, Massachusetts
“We should leave to the next generation a stock of „quality
of life‟ assets no less than those we have inherited.”
-Devens Enterprise Commission
Economic Benefits of IE
 Hidden Resource Productivity Gains

Within Firm: eliminating waste
• Making plant more efficient

Within Value Chain: reducing costs
• Synergies between production and
distribution

Beyond Production Chain: closed loop
• Eco-Industrial Parks and inter-firm relations
Benefits of IE to Corporation
 Revenue Generation
 Cost Savings
 Reduced Liabilities
 Competitive Edge of Regulatory Flexibility
 Enhanced Public Image
 Market Leader
The Future of IE
Cradle to Grave Analysis
“Compilation and evaluation of the
inputs, outputs and the potential
environmental impacts of a product
system throughout its life cycle”
“LCA is a tool to evaluate the environmental
consequences of a product or activity
holistically, across its entire life” – U.S. EPA
• A way of looking at the effect on the environment of products (or
processes) including packaging
• Considers the whole life cycle, from raw material production to
ultimate fate
Product Life Cycle
Steps of LCA:
1. Goal definition (ISO 14040):
 The basis and scope of the evaluation are defined.
2. Inventory Analysis (ISO 14041):
 identification and quantification of energy and
resource use and environmental releases to air, water,
and land.
3. Impact Assessment (ISO 14042):
 Emissions and consumptions are translated into
environmental effects.
4. Improvement Assessment/Interpretation (ISO 14043):
 Evaluation and implementation of opportunities to
reduce environmental burden
STEPS in an LCA
1. Goal and Scope: Select product or activity Define purpose
of study (comparison? improvement?) Fix boundaries
accordingly
2. Inventory Analysis: Identify all relevant inputs and
outputs Quantify and add (At this stage, data are in terms of
energy consumed, emission amounts, etc.)
3. Impact Analysis: Determine the resulting environmental
impacts (At this next stage, the previous data are translated
in additional cancer rates, fish kill, habitat depletion, etc.)
4. Interpretation: Use value judgment to assess and/or in
relation to the objectives of the study.
LCA Step 1 - Goal
Definition and Scope
It is important to establish beforehand
What purpose the model is to serve,
what one wishes to study,
what depth and degree of accuracy are required, and
what will ultimately become the decision criteria.
In addition, the system boundaries - for both time and
place - should be determined.
LCA Step 2 –
Inventory Analysis
 The inputs and outputs of all life-cycle processes in terms of material and
energy.
 Start with making a process tree or a flow-chart classifying the events in a
product’s life-cycle which are to be considered in the LCA, plus their
interrelations.
 Next, start collecting the relevant data for each event: the emissions from each
process and the resources (back to raw materials) used.
 Establish (correct) material and energy balance(s) for each process stage and
event.
LCA Step 3 - Impact Assessment
LCA Step 3 - Impact Assessment…
Examples of Common Impact Categories
 Greenhouse gas emissions
 Air emissionsCarcinogens
• Non-carcinogens
• Respiratory inorganics
Aquatic
• Acidification
• Eutrophication
Three well-documened and used
 Land use
methods are:
 Ecotoxicity
The Eco-Points method
• Aquatic
The Environmental Priority System
• Terrestrial
The Eco-Indicator
 Ozone layer depletion
 Ionizing radiation
 Non-renewable energy
 Mineral extraction
 Health impacts
LCA Step 4 - Improvement Assessment/Interpretation
The final step in Life-Cycle Analysis is to identify areas
for improvement.
Consult the original goal definition for the purpose of the
analysis and the target group.
Life-cycle areas/processes/events with large impacts
(i.e., high numerical values) are clearly the most obvious
candidates
However, what are the resources required and risk
involved?
Good areas of improvement are those where large
improvements can be made with minimal (corporate)
resource expenditure and low risk.
LCAs are used:
 in the design process to determine which of several
designs may leave a smaller “footprint on the
environment”, or
 after the fact to identify environmentally preferred
products in government procurement or eco-labeling
programs.
 Also, the study of reference or benchmark LCAs
provides insight into the main causes of the
environmental impact of a certain kind of product and
design priorities and product design guidelines can be
established based on the LCA data.
Some Problems with LCA
Goal Definition and Scoping
Costs and time to conduct an LCA may be prohibitive to small firms.
Temporal & spatial dimensions are difficult to address.
Definition of functional units can be problematic.
Complex products (automobiles) require tremendous resources to
analyze.
You have to do one LCA for every product in your company
Data Collection
Data availability and access can be limiting.
Data quality concerns such as bias, accuracy,
completeness are often not well-addressed.
precision,
and
Data Evaluation
Sophisticated models and model parameters may not be available,
Information Transfer
Design decision-makers often lack knowledge about environmental
effects.
Aggregation and simplification techniques may distort results.
Impact categorization is difficult (global warming, eutrophication, etc.)
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