MJ2615 Introduction to Industrial Ecology, larger course

At least 150 higher education credits in science or technology.

Courses from upper secondary school corresponding to the courses Eng B/6 according to the Swedish upper secondary school system or equivalent.

In this course the key concepts and the historical development of industrial ecology will be critically analysed. System tools to support industrial ecology will be briefly reviewed. Examples will be given how industrial ecology have been and can be used to develop long term strategies for the development of technology and for the industrial sector. The interaction between production and consumption as well as IE as a concept for creating the way for making material and energy use more effective than current practice in countries in the North will be discussed.

The course presents the developments in research and application in the field of industrial ecology and discusses the role of industrial ecology in strategic sustainable development on a global scale, as well as for strategies for manufacturing industries.

After completion of the course the students should be able to:

• explain the concept of sustainable development and the role of industrial ecology (IE) in supporting it;
• explain the importance of ecological metaphors in the analysis of industrial systems;
• explain the sustainability issues related to current patterns of sustainable consumption and production, reflecting on ethics and inequality from a global perspective;
• apply IE principles to understand environmental and socio-economic consequences of material and energy flows through systems; and
• search information from scientific literature related to IE and summarize and analyse in written reports;
• demonstrate newly-gained knowledge by critically discussing, orally and in a written format, the importance of IE approaches when analyzing and improving the sustainability performance of a technical system.