xv
ecology. Part I comprises a set of chapters which explore current thinking and practice in different aspects of industrial ecology and indicate how this thinking and
application is likely to develop in the future. Part II gives a selection of areas where
industrial ecology thinking has been applied, to provide valuable insights and hence
to suggest practical actions and policies.
The book is not necessarily intended to be read from start to fi nish. Experienced
industrial ecologists will be familiar with many of the concepts and should fi nd the
book useful to dip in and out of, according to their current needs and interests. We
suggest that the reader who is new to industrial ecology should start with Chap. 1 ,
in which Tom Graedel and Reid Lifset set out the history of the developments in
North America which led to the Journal of Industrial Ecology (JIE) and the formation of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). In Europe, the origins of the industrial ecology community are somewhat different: ISIE drew in a
group of researchers and practitioners who had been involved primarily with Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Accounting (MFA) but who recognised that they needed a new scientifi c and professional body with a broader scope.
It is signifi cant that the fi rst conference of the International Society for Industrial
Ecology, in 2001, was held in the Netherlands and organised by researchers at the
University of Leiden best known for their work in LCA but who now thought of
themselves as industrial ecologists.
Subsequent chapters in Part I discuss specifi c topics in industrial ecology. In
Chap. 2 , which exemplifi es the ‘whole-system’ approach to stocks and fl ows, Stefan
Pauliuk and Edgar Hertwich show how the basic principles of industrial ecology,
such as taking a life cycle approach and stipulating mass balance consistency, are
now being applied in dynamic, forward-looking (prospective) models to study the
potential effect of sustainable development strategies at full scale. They explain how
these newer models are related to more traditional techniques employed in industrial ecology such as LCA (see Guinée, Chap. 3 ), MFA (see Moriguchi and
Hashimoto, Chap. 12 ) and Input- output Analysis (see Wiedmann, Chap. 8 ). Pauliuk
and Hertwich also discuss the relationship between new prospective models and
conventional Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs). IAMs are not the subject of a
chapter of this book as, while they have, arguably, a more comprehensive scope,
they lack the robust scientifi c basis fundamental to industrial ecology. However,
Pauliuk and Hertwich see the integration of the core concepts of industrial ecology
into IAMs as a promising approach to enable enhanced understanding of society’s
future metabolism.
From the fi rst recognition of industrial ecology as a way of thinking, Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) has been one of its basic tools. LCA is concerned with identifying the impacts of a supply chain leading to delivery of a product or service. LCA
started with industrial applications, only subsequently developing into a way of
thinking which engaged the attention of the academic community. In Chap. 3 ,
Jeroen Guinée explores one of the current challenges for LCA: how to develop the
tool from its traditional role in identifying and quantifying environmental impacts
to covering all three of the lobes in Fig. 1 , i.e. to provide a tool to assess the sustainability of a product or service.
Introduction
ecology. Part I comprises a set of chapters which explore current thinking and practice in different aspects of industrial ecology and indicate how this thinking and
application is likely to develop in the future. Part II gives a selection of areas where
industrial ecology thinking has been applied, to provide valuable insights and hence
to suggest practical actions and policies.
The book is not necessarily intended to be read from start to fi nish. Experienced
industrial ecologists will be familiar with many of the concepts and should fi nd the
book useful to dip in and out of, according to their current needs and interests. We
suggest that the reader who is new to industrial ecology should start with Chap. 1 ,
in which Tom Graedel and Reid Lifset set out the history of the developments in
North America which led to the Journal of Industrial Ecology (JIE) and the formation of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). In Europe, the origins of the industrial ecology community are somewhat different: ISIE drew in a
group of researchers and practitioners who had been involved primarily with Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Accounting (MFA) but who recognised that they needed a new scientifi c and professional body with a broader scope.
It is signifi cant that the fi rst conference of the International Society for Industrial
Ecology, in 2001, was held in the Netherlands and organised by researchers at the
University of Leiden best known for their work in LCA but who now thought of
themselves as industrial ecologists.
Subsequent chapters in Part I discuss specifi c topics in industrial ecology. In
Chap. 2 , which exemplifi es the ‘whole-system’ approach to stocks and fl ows, Stefan
Pauliuk and Edgar Hertwich show how the basic principles of industrial ecology,
such as taking a life cycle approach and stipulating mass balance consistency, are
now being applied in dynamic, forward-looking (prospective) models to study the
potential effect of sustainable development strategies at full scale. They explain how
these newer models are related to more traditional techniques employed in industrial ecology such as LCA (see Guinée, Chap. 3 ), MFA (see Moriguchi and
Hashimoto, Chap. 12 ) and Input- output Analysis (see Wiedmann, Chap. 8 ). Pauliuk
and Hertwich also discuss the relationship between new prospective models and
conventional Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs). IAMs are not the subject of a
chapter of this book as, while they have, arguably, a more comprehensive scope,
they lack the robust scientifi c basis fundamental to industrial ecology. However,
Pauliuk and Hertwich see the integration of the core concepts of industrial ecology
into IAMs as a promising approach to enable enhanced understanding of society’s
future metabolism.
From the fi rst recognition of industrial ecology as a way of thinking, Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) has been one of its basic tools. LCA is concerned with identifying the impacts of a supply chain leading to delivery of a product or service. LCA
started with industrial applications, only subsequently developing into a way of
thinking which engaged the attention of the academic community. In Chap. 3 ,
Jeroen Guinée explores one of the current challenges for LCA: how to develop the
tool from its traditional role in identifying and quantifying environmental impacts
to covering all three of the lobes in Fig. 1 , i.e. to provide a tool to assess the sustainability of a product or service.
Introduction