Regional industrial recycling network in energy supply—the case of Joensuu city, Finland

Industrial recycling networks offer an example of the practical application of some of the industrial ecology (IE) principles. In the industrial ecosystem and eco-industrial park approaches the material cycles and energy cascades in a natural ecosystem serve as the metaphoric vision for a local/regional industrial system in which waste material and waste (residual) energy are utilized through cooperation between the actors in the system. In this paper, a local/regional recycling network scenario is presented with the energy supply system of the city of Joensuu in Finland. The conditions of success include the co-production of heat and electricity (heat and power, CHP), waste energy utilization for industrial steam and renewable flow use as fuel. Some difficulties in the industrial ecosystem-type development of the system are discussed. Methodological suggestions for industrial ecosystem and eco-industrial park case studies are considered and the experience from this Finnish case is discussed in terms of wider application of IE in local/regional economic energy systems. For future research on the theme, it is suggested that regional industrial ecology may benefit from regional economics theory and, vice versa, regional economics theory may find a new area of application in regional industrial ecology. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.

[1]  Leo Baas,et al.  Cleaner production and industrial ecosystems, a Dutch experience , 1998 .

[2]  Ted Sirkin,et al.  The cascade chain: A theory and tool for achieving resource sustainability with applications for product design , 1994 .

[3]  Jouni Kurhonen,et al.  Industrial ecosystems — some conditions for success , 2001 .

[4]  Raymond P. Côté,et al.  Industrial parks as ecosystems , 1995 .

[5]  Rudolf B. Husar.  ECOSYSTEM AND THE BIOSPHERE: Metaphors for Human- Induced Material Flows , 1994 .

[6]  S. Tuhkanen,et al.  Indicators of CO{sub 2} emissions and energy efficiency. Comparison of Finland with other countries , 1997 .

[7]  Ilkka Savolainen,et al.  Greenhouse impacts of the use of peat and wood for energy , 1994 .

[8]  Edward Cohen-Rosenthal,et al.  A Walk on the Human Side of Industrial Ecology , 2000 .

[9]  Raymond P. Côté,et al.  Designing eco-industrial parks: a synthesis of some experiences , 1998 .

[10]  Jouni Korhonen,et al.  An anchor tenant approach to network management: considering regional material and energy flow networks , 2001 .

[11]  Reid Lifset.  Why Industrial Ecology , 1997 .

[12]  Pekka E. Kauppi,et al.  Biomass and Carbon Budget of European Forests, 1971 to 1990 , 1992, Science.

[13]  Erich J. Schwarz,et al.  Implementing nature's lesson: The industrial recycling network enhancing regional development , 1997 .

[14]  Jouni Korhonen,et al.  Cleaner energy production in industrial recycling networks , 2001 .

[15]  A. Gouldson,et al.  Environmental Management and Business Strategy , 1993 .

[16]  Jouni Korhonen,et al.  Industrial ecosystem : using the material and energy flow model of an ecosystem in an industrial system , 2000 .

[17]  Ernest A. Lowe,et al.  Creating by-product resource exchanges: Strategies for eco-industrial parks , 1997 .

[18]  John R. Ehrenfeld,et al.  Industrial Ecology , 2000 .

[19]  M. Porter.  Clusters and the new economics of competition. , 1998, Harvard business review.

[20]  N. E. Gallopoulos,et al.  Strategies for Manufacturing , 1989 .

[21]  J. Ehrenfeld,et al.  Industrial Ecology in Practice: The Evolution of Interdependence at Kalundborg , 1997 .

[22]  J. Korhonen.  Four ecosystem principles for an industrial ecosystem , 2001 .

[23]  Radiative forcing due to greenhouse gas emissions and sinks in Finland — estimating the control potential , 1994 .