Industrial ecology and design for environment

Industrial ecology is the objective, multidisciplinary study of industrial and economic systems and their linkages with fundamental natural systems, the "science and engineering of sustainability". It provides the science and technology base for a sustainable economy, when combined with appropriate evolution of ethical and institutional systems. Design for environment (DFE) is one means by which the principles of industrial ecology can be implemented today, within the overall perspective of a global economy that is increasingly service oriented. Examples of such technologies might include Internet central server, biotechnology, and the modern automobile.