Eco-industrial park - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

An eco-industrial park (EIP) is an industrial park

Industrial park

An industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development...

in which businesses cooperate with each other and with the local community

Local government

Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...

in an attempt to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources (such as information, materials, water, energy

Electric power

Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...

, infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

, and natural resources

Natural Resources

Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...

), and help achieve sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

, with the intention of increasing economic gains

Profit (economics)

In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total opportunity costs of a venture to an entrepreneur or investor, whilst economic profit In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total...

and improving environmental quality

Natural environment

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

. An EIP may also be planned, designed, and built in such a way that it makes it easier for businesses to co-operate, and that results in a more financially sound, environmentally friendly project for the developer.

The Eco-industrial Park Handbook states that
"An Eco-Industrial Park is a community of manufacturing and service businesses located together on a common property. Members seek enhanced environmental, economic, and social performance through collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues."

Based on the concepts of industrial ecology

Industrial ecology

Industrial Ecology is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modeled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resources into commodities which can be bought and sold to meet the...

, collaborative strategies not only include by-product synergy (“waste-to-feed” exchanges), but can also take the form of wastewater cascading, shared logistics and shipping & receiving facilities, shared parking, green technology purchasing blocks, multi-partner green building

Green building

Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...

retrofit, district energy systems, and local education & resource centres. This is an application of a systems approach, in which designs and processes/activities are integrated to address multiple objectives.

EIPs can be developed as greenfield land

Greenfield land

Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...

projects, where the eco-industrial intent is present throughout the planning, design and site construction phases, or developed through retrofits and new strategies in existing industrial developments.

Examples

"Industrial symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis can be defined as sharing of services, utility, and by-product resources among diverse industrial actors in order to add value, reduce costs and improve the environment. Industrial symbiosis is a subset of industrial ecology, with a particular focus on material and energy...

" is a related but more limited concept in which companies in a region collaborate to utilize each other's by-products and otherwise share resources. In Kalundborg, Denmark

Kalundborg Eco-industrial Park

In Kalundborg, Denmark an Industrial symbiosis network exists where companies in a region collaborate to use each other's by-products and otherwise share resources. At the center is the Asnæs Power Station, a 1500MW coal fired power plant, which has material and energy links with the community and...

a symbiosis network links a 1500MW coal fired power plant with the community and other companies. Surplus heat

Waste heat

Waste heat sometimes called Secondary heat or Low-grade heat refers to heat produced by machines, electrical equipment and industrial processes for which no useful application is found. Energy is often produced by a heat engine, running on a source of high-temperature heat...

from this power plant is used to heat 3500 local homes in addition to a nearby fish farm, whose sludge

Sludge

Sludge refers to the residual, semi-solid material left from industrial wastewater, or sewage treatment processes. It can also refer to the settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatment, and numerous other industrial processes...

is then sold as a fertilizer

Fertilizer

Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...

. Steam

Steam

Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...

from the power plant is sold to Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services. Created in 1989 through a merger of two Danish companies dating back to the 1920s, it has become one of the world's leading companies in diabetes care, where Novo Nordisk pursues research into pulmonary delivery systems;...

, a pharmaceutical and enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

manufacturer, in addition to a Statoil

Statoil

Statoil ASA is a Norwegian petroleum company established in 1972. It merged with Norsk Hydro in 2007 and was known as StatoilHydro until 2009, when the name was changed back to Statoil ASA. The brand Statoil was retained as a chain of fuel stations owned by StatoilHydro...

plant. This reuse of heat

Waste heat

reduces the amount thermal pollution

Thermal pollution

Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature.A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers...

discharged to a nearby fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

. Additionally, a by-product from the power plant's sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...

scrubber

Scrubber

Scrubber systems are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams. Traditionally, the term "scrubber" has referred to pollution control devices that use liquid to wash unwanted pollutants from a gas stream...

contains gypsum

Gypsum

Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...

, which is sold to a wallboard manufacturer. Almost all of the manufacturer's gypsum

Gypsum

needs are met this way, which reduces the amount of open-pit mining

Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....

needed. Furthermore, fly ash

Fly ash

Fly ash is one of the residues generated in combustion, and comprises the fine particles that rise with the flue gases. Ash which does not rise is termed bottom ash. In an industrial context, fly ash usually refers to ash produced during combustion of coal...

and clinker

Clinker (waste)

Clinker is a general name given to waste from industrial processes — particularly those that involve smelting metals, burning fossil fuels and using a blacksmith's forge which will usually result in a large buildup of clinker around the tuyère...

from the power plant is utilized for road building and cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

production.

The industrial symbiosis at Kalundborg was not created as a top-down initiative, but instead evolved gradually. As environmental regulations became stricter, firms were motivated reduce the cost of compliance, and turn their by-products into economic products.

In Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, eco-industrial parks exist across the country and have enjoyed some success. The best known example is Burnside Park

Burnside, Nova Scotia

Burnside is a Canadian urban neighbourhood located along the northeast shore of Bedford Basin in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.Officially still termed a dispersed rural community, Burnside has been the location of a major concentration of industry and commercial development since the...

, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. With support from Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

’s Eco-Efficiency Centre, the more than 1,500 businesses have been improving their environmental performance and developing profitable partnerships. Subsequently, two greenfield industrial developments have been started in Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

: TaigaNova Eco-Industrial Park is in the heart of the Athabasca oil sands

Athabasca Oil Sands

The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...

, while Innovista Eco-Industrial Park is a gateway to the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

~300km west of Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

Other usage

EIPs also refer to industrial parks where a "green" approach has been taken towards the infrastructure and development of the site. This can include green infrastructure

Green infrastructure

Green Infrastructure is a concept originating in the United States in the mid-1990s that highlights the importance of the natural environment in decisions about land use planning. In particular there is an emphasis on the "life support" functions provided by a network of natural ecosystems, with an...

related to Renewable Energy Systems

Renewable Energy Systems

The RES Group is a UK-based renewable energy project developer. Its core business is to develop, construct and operate large-scale, grid-connected renewable energy projects worldwide. As part of the Sir Robert McAlpine group, RES is active in the wind, biomass and solar energy sectors...

; stormwater

Stormwater

Stormwater is water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt that enters the stormwater system...

, groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...

and wastewater

Wastewater

Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...

management; road surfaces; and transportation demand management

Transportation Demand Management

Transportation demand management, traffic demand management or travel demand management is the application of strategies and policies to reduce travel demand , or to redistribute this demand in space or in time.In transport as in any network, managing demand can be a cost-effective alternative to...

. Green building

Green building

practices can also be encouraged or mandated

EIPs are often used as a stimulus for economic diversification in the community or region where they are located. Anchor tenants, such as bio-based product manufacturers or waste-to-energy

Waste-to-energy

Waste-to-energy or energy-from-waste is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery...

facilities, etc., can attract complementary businesses as suppliers, scavengers/recyclers, service providers, downstream users and other businesses that could benefit from eco-industrial strategies.

Suggested usage

It is suggested that EIPs be used as a means of growing the renewable energy sector. In the case of a Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Manufacturing plant, an EIP can increase the manufacturing efficiency to make it more economical, while reducing the environmental impact of producing the solar cells.In essence,this assists the growth of the renewable energy industry and the environmental benefits that come with replacing fossil-fuels.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Examples

Other usage

Suggested usage

See also

Further reading

External links