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A Framework for Modeling Local Production Systems with Techno‐Ecological Interactions
Author(s) -
MartinezHernandez Elias,
Leung Pah Hang Melissa Yuling,
Leach Matthew,
Yang Aidong
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/jiec.12481
Subject(s) - production (economics) , industrial symbiosis , industrial ecology , provisioning , environmental resource management , component (thermodynamics) , environmental economics , process (computing) , ecosystem , sustainability , bioenergy , computer science , business , ecology , environmental science , risk analysis (engineering) , renewable energy , economics , telecommunications , physics , macroeconomics , biology , operating system , thermodynamics
Summary At the local scale, interconnected production, consumption, waste management, and other man‐made technological components interact with local ecosystem components to form a local production system. The purpose of this work is to develop a framework for the conceptual characterization and mathematical modeling of a local production system to support the assessment of process and component options that potentially create symbiosis between industry and ecosystem. This framework has been applied to a case study to assess options for the establishment of a local energy production system that involves a heathland ecosystem, bioenergy production, and wastewater treatment. We found that the framework is useful to analyze the two‐way interactions between these components in order to obtain insight into the behavior and performance of the bioenergy production system. In particular, the framework enables exploring the levels of the ecosystem states that allow continuous provisioning of resources in order to establish a sustainable techno‐ecological system.