| What exactly do we mean by "sustainable community
development"? How do we begin implementing principles of sustainability in our
communities? The new concept of eco-industrial parks (EIPs)
offers one starting point for addressing these questions. In order to be economically
viable, most communities attempting to move toward sustainability will need to include an
industrial sector in their economic mix. But to involve industry in strategies for
sustainability will require fundamental improvements in industrial environmental
performance and resource efficiency, as well as better integration of companies into their
host communities. Though still a nascent concept, the EIP has emerged in a remarkably
brief time as one interesting approach to this challenge.
The EIP concept was first formalized in 1992-93 by Indigo
Development, a team of people from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, and Cornell
University's Work and Environment Initiative. In 1994, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) awarded a contract to Research Triangle Institute and Indigo to flesh out the
concept and undertake a case study. By the fall of 1996, 17 projects declaring themselves
eco-industrial parks were on the drawing boards in the U.S.; at least two had recruited
their first tenants.
What is an EIP?
An eco-industrial park involves a network of firms and
organizations, working together to improve their environmental and economic performance.
Some planners and researchers of EIPs have used the team "industrial ecosystem"
to describe the type of symbiotic relationships that develop amongst participating firms.
Specifically, Indigo's EPA research project defined eco-industrial parks as follows:
"An eco-industrial park is a community of manufacturing and
service businesses seeking enhanced environmental and economic performance through
collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues, including energy, water, and
materials. By working together, the community of businesses seeks a collective benefit
that is greater than the sum of the individual benefits each company would realize if it
optimized its individual performance only. The goal of an EIP is to improve the economic
performance of the participating companies while minimizing their environmental
impact."
Components of EIP design
EIPs have a rich menu of design options, including site design, park
infrastructure, individual facilities, and shared support services. The following
highlights some major strategies an EIP design team can draw upon in planning a park.
Natural Systems--An industrial park can fit into its natural setting
in a way that minimizes environmental impacts while cutting operating costs. The Herman
Miller design plant in Phoenix illustrates the use of native plant reforestation and the
creation of wetlands to minimize landscape maintenance, purify storm water run-off, and
provide climate protection for the building. At another level, plant design, landscaping,
and design choices in materials, infrastructure, and building equipment, can reduce a
park's contributions to global climate change and its consumption of non-renewable
resources.
Energy--More efficient use of energy is a major strategy for
cutting costs and reducing burdens on the environment. In EIPs, companies seek greater
efficiency in individual building, lighting, and equipment design. Examples include flows
of steam or heated water from one plant to another (energy cascading), or steam
connections from firms to provide heating for homes in the area. Finally, in many regions,
the park infrastructure can use renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy.
Material Flows--In an eco-park, companies perceive wastes as
lost opportunities that ideally are potential products to be re-used internally or
marketed to someone else. Individually, and as a community, they work to optimize use of
all materials and to minimize the use of toxic materials. The park infrastructure may
include the means for moving by-products from one plant to another, warehousing
by-products for shipment to external customers, and common toxic waste processing
facilities.
One emerging strategy for EIP planning involves anchoring the park
around resource recovery companies that are recruited to the location or started from
scratch. The park could then support the establishment of aggressive waste reduction goals
for all sectors of a community. A cluster of recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, and
composting firms could process by-products and supply recycled inputs to manufacturers at
the EIP, as well as to other firms in the region.
Water Flows--In individual plants, designers specify high
efficiency building and process equipment. Processed water from one plant may be re-used
by another (water cascading), passing through a pre-treatment plant as needed. The park
infrastructure may include mains for several grades of water(depending on the needs of the
companies) and provisions for collecting and using storm water run off.
Park Management and Support Services--As a community of
companies, an EIP needs a more sophisticated management and support system than a
traditional industrial park. Management supports the exchange of by-products among
companies and helps them adapt to changes in the mix of companies (such as a supplier or
customer moving out) through its recruitment responsibility. It may maintain links into
regional by-product exchanges and a site-wide telecommunications system. The park may also
include shared support services such as a training center, cafeteria, day care center,
office for purchasing common supplies, or a transportation logistics office. companies can
add to their savings by sharing the costs of these services.
Sustainable Design and Construction--EIP planners design buildings
and infrastructure to optimize the efficient use of resources and to minimize pollution
generation. They seek to reduce the impacts on the ecosystem by careful site preparation
and ecologically appropriate buildings and park systems. The whole park is designed to be
durable, maintainable, and readily reconfigured to adapt to change. At the end of its
life, materials and systems can be easily re-used or recycled.
Pioneers of industrial symbioses
A cluster of companies in Kalundborg, Denmark, has inspired others
to replicate its network of by-product exchanges, which participants call an
"industrial symbiosis." Kalundborg is a community west of Copenhagen where a
coal-fired power plant, a refinery, a pharmaceutical and industrial enzyme plant, a
wallboard company, and the town's heating facility have developed one-on-one deals to
trade steam, hot water, and materials such as gypsum, sulfuric acid, and biotech sludge.
(See diagram.)
Erich Schwarz, and Austrian researcher, discovered a much larger
industrial recycling network in the Austrian province of Styria. Materials traded in the
Styrian network include familiar recyclables like paper, power plant gypsum, iron scrap,
used oil, and tires, as well as a wide range of other by-products. The plant managers in
Styria were not aware of the larger pattern of exchange as it evolved. They were motivated
purely by the revenues from by-products they could sell and the savings in landfill
disposal costs for either sold or free outputs. In some cases the by-products were less
expensive or higher quality than primary materials would be. While the exchange of
by-products has both environmental and financial benefits, no one is yet sure to what
extent such a regional trading network can be developed elsewhere.
Other international work on industrial ecosystem projects and EIPs
is being carried out by researchers, companies, and developers in the Netherlands,
Austria, Spain, Costa Rica, Namibia, South Africa, Australia, and several Asian countries.
North American EIPs
EIP projects are in the works all over the United States. At least
two EIP projects involve military installations--a closed Air Force base in Plattsburgh,
NY, and an inactive Army dynamite plant in Chattanooga, TN. In addition to those two,
other communities and regions in North American planning EIPs include: Alameda and Contra
Costa Counties, CA; Burlington, VT; Eugene, OR; Brownsville, TX; Cape Charles, VA;
Londenderry, NH; Minneapolis, MN; Raymond, WA; Trenton, NJ; Tucson, AZ; Wake Forest, NC,
and Matamoros, Mexico. These projects range from six to hundreds of acres. Some are
basically seeking to link existing companies into by-product exchanges. Others are new
industrial park developments with a variety of strategies for improving environmental
performance.
Either eco-industrial park or industrial ecosystem projects can be
used in sustainable community planning to provide a base for improving environmental
performance across the whole industrial sector of a community. The many projects in the US
and other countries are an exciting laboratory for sustainable community planning.
Hopefully their failures as well as their successes will provide valuable learning for
those of us seeking to integrate industry into the sustainability game.
Electronic Resources on EIPs
Cornell Work and Environment Initiative (with link to Baltimore EIP
project): http://www.cte.cornell.edu/wei/
DOE Center for Excellence in Sustainable Development:
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/industrial/index.html
Indigo Development: http://www.indigodev.com
Source: Positive Alternatives, Center for Economic Conversion,
Mountain View, CA, Summer 1997 |