Glossary

  • Analysis of material and energy flows (AMEF):

The analysis of material and energy flows consists of performing an overview of material and energy flows through a given system (territory, business, process, etc.) over a determined period of time. An AMEF can be materialised by a graphical and quantitative representation: the “industrial metabolism” or “territorial metabolism”, which also takes into account material and energy stocks. The aim of AMEF and industrial metabolisms is to identify potential eco-industrial synergies between the economic stakeholders within the system examined. The search for synergies per se requires the in-depth study of flow sharing or recovery opportunities according to flow characteristics.

  • Dematerialisation:

The objective of the dematerialisation strategy, assuming the service provided is the same, is to reduce the amount of resources required to provide this service. Different strategies can be used: functionality economy, eco-design, development of eco-technologies, industrial ecology (via the networking of material and energy flows, in particular by replacing the use of natural resources with by-products).

  • Industrial ecosystem:

Natural ecosystems in the biosphere are largely interdependent, as are the species within these ecosystems. For example, “plants synthesise substances which feed herbivores, who are eaten by carnivores, whose waste and carcasses are used as food by other organisms”. This combination of interdependences is one of the cornerstones of the balance and stability of natural ecosystems. Consequently, the strategy proposed by industrial ecology is to reshape the organisation of industrial systems in accordance with these principles, i.e. aim for an eco-systemic organisation in order to strive for a mode of development which is compatible with the ecological balance. On a local scale, industrial symbioses or eco-industrial parks therefore refer to the notion of industrial ecosystem.

Source: Robert Frosch and Nicholas Gallopoulos: "Viable industrial strategies”; in Scientific American, September 1989.

  • Industrial (or territorial) metabolism:

Industrial metabolism consists of establishing mass balances by estimating the material and energy flows and stocks of a given company or industrial system, with a view to obtaining a global view of its functioning via a graphical and quantitative representation. Territorial metabolism applies to a broader geographical scale in accordance with the same principles.

 

  • Industrial symbiosis:

As an analogy of natural ecosystems, an industrial symbiosis refers to inter-business relations based on sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships. It is defined as “belonging to the emerging field of industrial ecology and requiring special focus on material and energy flows within local and regional economies. Industrial symbiosis involves [...] physical exchanges of material, energy, water and/or by-products. The keys to industrial symbiosis lie in the collaboration and synergy opportunities inherent in geographical proximity”.

Source: Chertow M., Industrial Symbiosis: Literature and Taxonomy, Annual Review of Energy and the Environment.  

 

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