In the Danish city of Kalundborg there is a stellar example of industrial ecology. Sounds like another oxymoron doesn’t it? First there was military intelligence and honest politician and now industrial ecology you say? Whatever next living dead? A visible Gideon? Bill Hicks the comedian called these guys ninjas while asking the question “Have you ever seen a Gideon?” Anyway I digress, as usual.
Industrial Ecology is the almost exactly the same as ZERI, but whereas ZERI cycles organic materials through natural processes industrial ecology can channel inorganic materials, including the stuff that’s poisonous and can’t be broken down by nature. The thinking is fundamentallly the same but the products are different since a lot of it is inorganic chemistry.
The industrial ecology started with a coal fired power station. The power station is basically the engine for the entire thing. If it closes down then it’s like a natural ecology has just had its sun turned off. The power station produces heat and a variety of gases and solids as waste products. But the other main partners are an oil refinery
Waste heat powers a neighbourhood heating scheme instead of raising the temperature of water in streams and lakes. It also provides water to fish farms and greenhouses.
The desulphurization process incorporated into the chimney to reduce acid rain produces large amounts of gypsum which is the primary constituent of plasterboard and so the gypsum flows to the plasterboard company nearby, replacing the Gypsum bought and transported from Spain.
Gas at the statoil company which would normally be just burned is instead treated to reduce its sulphur content, the suplhur is sold to a sulphuric acid company, the gas is used in the power station to reduce coal requirements.
These are just a few examples of how something that would normally be considered industrial waste is instead an input for another industrial process, to the benefit of profitability AND the environment. Payback time is under 5 years. The estimated cost of putting the links together is around $75 million the estimated savings up to this point amount to $160 million so far.
What does this have to do with what I’ve been talking about on my blog. Well this is big business and the community. Industrial Ecology requires all these industries to be close to each other. The managers of each business have to know each other. That’s community, but keep in mind that while a lot of these large industries are beyond the ability of individuals to establish that a combination of community coops and government aid means that a lot of these businesses could be developed by the community for the community.
