14
Unternehmensverbünde (Von Hauff et al. 2012 ); Crossing “Environmental
Mountain” – Study on Industrial Ecology (Lu 2008 ), Ecologia Industrial (Ferrao
2009 ), Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals , Sustainability , Design (Mihelcic
& Zimmerman, 2009 , 2nd edition, 2014 ), and Industrial Ecology and Sustainable
Engineering (Graedel and Allenby 2010 ).
The fi rst formal course in industrial ecology was apparently taught at the
Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1993 (Marstrander et al. 1999 ).
A few years later, the Delft University of Technology and Philips Consumer
Electronics jointly developed modules for teaching eco-design in industry and in
universities (Stevels 2001 ). From that beginning, a number of universities in Europe
and North America began offering industrial ecology courses in the latter 1990s and
the early 2000s (Cockerill 2013 ). This area of study is growing rapidly: a recent
survey identifi ed industrial ecology courses and/or programs at 190 universities and
colleges in 46 countries (Finlayson et al. 2014 ). As with many young fi elds, the
scope, level, and content of these courses have considerable diversity, but it is clear
that education in industrial ecology is widespread, growing, and evolving.
5 Epilogue
This review and recollection emphasizes the fi rst decade or so of the industrial ecology fi eld, largely because the authors had the good fortune to be involved in most of
the developmental activities that occurred during that period and because many
aspects of those activities are not very widely known. It is a great pleasure to us that
the industrial ecology fi eld has grown enormously in size and infl uence since its
founding and has become “the science behind sustainability.” It will be interesting
and rewarding to watch industrial ecology’s further development in the years to
come.
Authors’ Note Because we are not historians, this contribution inevitably emphasizes our own interactions and experiences at the close of the twentieth century. It
also has a North American bias, partly because some of the most signifi cant parts of
industrial ecology’s early days occurred there and partly because that is where we
live. We are, however, grateful for the comments and suggestions from Faye Duchin,
Marina Fischer-Kowalski, and Stefan Bringezu which have signifi cantly improved
an earlier version of this work. For what we perceive will be of maximum utility to
most readers, the references are largely restricted to English.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
T.E. Graedel and R.J. Lifset
Unternehmensverbünde (Von Hauff et al. 2012 ); Crossing “Environmental
Mountain” – Study on Industrial Ecology (Lu 2008 ), Ecologia Industrial (Ferrao
2009 ), Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals , Sustainability , Design (Mihelcic
& Zimmerman, 2009 , 2nd edition, 2014 ), and Industrial Ecology and Sustainable
Engineering (Graedel and Allenby 2010 ).
The fi rst formal course in industrial ecology was apparently taught at the
Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1993 (Marstrander et al. 1999 ).
A few years later, the Delft University of Technology and Philips Consumer
Electronics jointly developed modules for teaching eco-design in industry and in
universities (Stevels 2001 ). From that beginning, a number of universities in Europe
and North America began offering industrial ecology courses in the latter 1990s and
the early 2000s (Cockerill 2013 ). This area of study is growing rapidly: a recent
survey identifi ed industrial ecology courses and/or programs at 190 universities and
colleges in 46 countries (Finlayson et al. 2014 ). As with many young fi elds, the
scope, level, and content of these courses have considerable diversity, but it is clear
that education in industrial ecology is widespread, growing, and evolving.
5 Epilogue
This review and recollection emphasizes the fi rst decade or so of the industrial ecology fi eld, largely because the authors had the good fortune to be involved in most of
the developmental activities that occurred during that period and because many
aspects of those activities are not very widely known. It is a great pleasure to us that
the industrial ecology fi eld has grown enormously in size and infl uence since its
founding and has become “the science behind sustainability.” It will be interesting
and rewarding to watch industrial ecology’s further development in the years to
come.
Authors’ Note Because we are not historians, this contribution inevitably emphasizes our own interactions and experiences at the close of the twentieth century. It
also has a North American bias, partly because some of the most signifi cant parts of
industrial ecology’s early days occurred there and partly because that is where we
live. We are, however, grateful for the comments and suggestions from Faye Duchin,
Marina Fischer-Kowalski, and Stefan Bringezu which have signifi cantly improved
an earlier version of this work. For what we perceive will be of maximum utility to
most readers, the references are largely restricted to English.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
T.E. Graedel and R.J. Lifset