Industrial ecology does not view industrial systems as separate from the biosphere, but as part of the ecosystem. Unlike ecology in a natural context based on natural capital, industrial ecology is based on infrastructure capital. Just as nature does not have real waste, industrial systems should also imitate this model if it is to be sustained and sustainable.
Along with the emergence of energy saving and raw material savings objectives, as well as the reexamination of commodity markets and production concepts especially in the context of service economics, industrial ecology is one of the goals of Natural Capitalism. This strategy emphasizes to look at the broad impacts of industrial production, emphasize respect for natural capital, and rely on knowledge capital to design and care for established industrial ecosystems
Industrialization occupies a central position in the economy of modern society and is the driving force that provides the basis for the development process. In order for development itself to be sustainable, a fundamental change must be made to the quality of the development. In general, industry and any industrialization activities should be stimulated to be more efficient in resource use, resulting in less pollutants and waste, more based on the use of recoverable resources and minimizing their negative impact on human health and the environment.
Basically industrial ecology is an environmental management approach where a system is not seen separately with its surrounding system but is a mutually supportive part in order to optimize the material cycle when a raw material is processed into a product. Industrial ecology is designed so that a system can integrate between industries resembling natural ecosystems, so that interaction between industries in industrial ecological systems take place in nature.
The idea of industrial ecology is dianologized with natural ecological systems, which are usually driven by solar energy, ecosystems, including the mutual relationships between various microorganisms and the surrounding environment in which material exchange exists through a large cycle. Ideally, systems built in industrial ecology also follow such cycles, in which the flow of energy, materials and the use of processed waste can be formed in a closed cycle, so as to make efficient use of natural resources, even complementing / enriching the natural resources themselves.
The main objective of industrial ecology is to promote and implement the concepts of sustainable development, be it global, regional, or local, by trying to find the needs of the present generation with future generations.
In this case there are 3 key principles of sustainable development which are the objectives of industrial ecology:
- Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
Industrial ecology develops the principle of prioritizing the use of renewable natural resources and reducing the use of non-renewable natural resources. Industrial activity depends on the availability of a strong natural resource (steady supply of resources), so it is necessary to manage its utilization more efficiently in the operation process as much as possible, although many studies have found ways to minimize the use of this raw material. It can not be assumed that the demand for these raw materials will be reduced. In addition to sunlight, natural resource supply is very limited. Thus the depletion of non-renewable natural resources and the destruction of renewable natural resources (such as forests) must be minimized in order for industrial activities to be sustainable for longer periods of time.
- Ensuring the Quality / Quality of Life of the Surrounding Communities
Humans are the only component in the interaction that exists in complex ecology. Human activities can not be separated from the functions of the whole system. Because the quality of human life depends on the quality of other components in the ecosystem, the structure and function of the ecosystem, so this should be the focus in the concept of industrial ecology. How to prevent industrial activities from causing catastrophic damage to ecosystems or slowly destroying the structure and function of the ecosystem itself, which endangers the living system.
- Maintaining the Survival of Ecological System (Environmental Equity)
The main challenge for sustainable development is how to achieve justice for intergenerational and intergenerational equity. Spending on natural resources and destroying ecological quality in order to achieve short-term outcomes can jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their living needs. Community injustice also arises, as the fact that there is no balance in the use of natural resources between developed and developing countries, where there is a mismatch or balance of natural resource use used in developed countries compared to developing countries. This injustice also arises in America, people with below average earnings are more affected by the environmental pollution impacts of the industry, because among these people they are also more vulnerable to health risks and toxic / hazardous substances.
The concept of industrial ecology has been widely developed in developed countries and even in developed countries and even in developing countries such as the Kalundborg industrial ecology system in Denmark, Brownville in the United States, Guitang in China and Naroda in India. In developed countries, industrial ecology has been used as an instrument to design sustainable and environmentally sound economic development. Meanwhile, in developing countries, there are still constraints that abundant natural resources still can not be optimized its use.
Industrial ecology is also a system used to manage the flow of energy or material to obtain high efficiency and produce less pollution. There is not really a single definition of a generally accepted industrial ecology. But basically, most of the given notions contain similar attributes, though using different emphases.
The basic concept of industrial ecology can be explained as follows: manufacturing uses pure material, extracted into specific products which are then used by other industries or directly consumed by consumers. The waste product resulting from this production process or residual consumer consumption is then reprocessed so that it can be used again for pure material growth.
All of these steps are formed in a system called closed system, where all the rest of production can be recovered. Indeed, in every process not all is always efficient, there will be fliksi-fliksi and loss of some resources during the life cycle process. However, the ultimate goal of industrial ecology is to reduce the use of pure materials, especially raw materials and non-renewable natural resources
The concept of industrial ecology can be applied to develop the creation of new energy sources derived from industrial process waste previously. By applying the industrial ecological concept some industries can perform waste exchange systems that can be used by other companies in a region. Waste from an industrial activity may be a waste that can be utilized for energy sources for other industries
In Indonesia there has not been much developed new energy source that comes from waste or other industrial waste in an industrial ecology framework. New energy is a form of energy generated by new technologies from both renewable and non-renewable energy such as hydrogen, coal bed methane, liquefied coal, gasified coal and nuclear power; while renewable energy is a source of energy produced from energy resources that will naturally not be exhausted and can be sustainable if managed properly, such as geothermal, biofuel, river currents, solar energy, wind energy, biomass and energy sea.
The concept of industrial ecology may be related and implied in industrial systems. There are two things that underlie the concept of industrial ecology, namely industrial metabolism and industrial ecosystems. Industrial metabolism is a way in which the industry handles the flow of material and its overall energy flow through an industrial system, to the consumer and to the final disposal
There are three concepts of natural metabolism brought about in the concept of industrial ecology. First, industrial metabolism is a thorough integration of a set of physical processes that convert raw materials and energy into final products and waste in a state of steady state. Second, industrial metabolism can be tested as an individual operating unit in an industrial production process, both factory and global. Third, industrial ecology is considered as an analogy between biological metabolism and industrial metabolism is the concept of life cycle
Strategies to implement the concept of industrial ecology are four main elements: (1) optimizing the use of existing resources; (2) making closed material cycles and minimizing emissions; (3) dematerialization process; and (4) reduction and elimination of dependence on non-renewable energy sources.
SOURCE REFERENCE
https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/esthernbbn.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/ekologi-industri/amp/
https://id.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekologi_industrial
http://www.academia.edu/10498437/Tugas_Mata_Kuliah_EKOLOGI_INDUSTRI
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