Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
foresight, and thus they lack the same element of contingency and free will.
It is not that economic systems are the same as biological ecologies; rather,
the point is that much work on complex systems has been done in the con-
text of biological ecology, and some of this learning is applicable to eco-
nomic and industrial systems, despite their differences.
The analogy between natural and human systems does help, however, to
express important elements of industrial ecology.Thus, the concept of indus-
trial ecology can be illustrated by considering three different models (figure 2).
A Type I system is linear.Virgin materials enter the system, are used only
once, and are then disposed of as waste (that is, as materials for which there
FIGURE 2
Types of industrial ecology systems.
