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Glossary
Industrial ecology
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The industrial ecology is an innovative approach to reduce the losses of material and energy in production and consumption process. It inspires of biosphere mecanisms to reach a sustainable evolution of industrial system.
The objective of industrial ecology is to promote synergies between enterprises in such a way that they reuse, betwen them or with public collectivity, the production left-over( steam, water, waste,...). This approach allow optimizing use of raw material and energy in industrial processes.
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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
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Life-cycle assessment is a methodology used to evaluate the environmental aspects and potential environmental impacts of a product, package, service, or process throughout all the phases of its life (i.e. cradle-to-grave) and to compare them with the impacts associated with alternative products or materials. A comprehensive LCA will identify energy use, resource inputs and pollutants generated during a product’s life. It ordinarily begins with the extraction of raw materials and includes processing, manufacture, transportation and delivery, consumption, reuse and disposal.
As a tool for environmental analysis LCA seeks to assess the impacts of those energy and material uses and wastes on the environment, and to evaluate and implement opportunities to effect environmental improvements.
Common categories of assessed damages are global warming (greenhouse gases), smog, ozone layer depletion, acidification, eco-toxicological and human-toxicological pollutants, desertification, land use, and the depletion of minerals and fossil fuels.
The procedures of life cycle assessment (LCA) are part of the ISO 14000 environmental management standards.
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Mass Flow Analysis (MFA)
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Material flow analysis (MFA) is a systematic assessment of the flows and stocks of materials within a system defined in space and time. It connects the sources, the pathways, and the intermediate and final sinks of a material. Because of the law of the conservation of matter, the results of an MFA can be controlled by a simple material balance comparing all inputs, stocks, and outputs of a process. It is this distinct characteristic of MFA that makes the method attractive as a decision support tool in resource management, waste management, and environmental management (Brunner and Rechberber, 2003).
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