Course syllabus

ENM021 Applied Industrial Ecology VT24 (7.5 hp)

Last update: 29 February 2024, 12:55
You can also download the PDF version of this project description here.

Course management and contact information

The course is given by the Division of Physical Resource Theory at the Department of Earth, Space and Environment.  

  • Ulrika Lundqvist is the examiner and main teacher for the first project in the course. E-mail: ulrika.lundqvist@chalmers.se , Phone: 031-772 3281.
  • Jessica Jewell is the main teacher for the second project in the course. E-mail: jewell@chalmers.se
  • Yodefia Rahmad is the teaching assistant for the course. Email: yodefia@chalmers.se 
  • Henrikke Baumann is a guest teacher at the division of Environmental Systems Analysis at the department Technology, Management and Economics.

General information

This course is a compulsory elective course in the Master's Programme in Industrial Ecology (MPTSE). The course is given in English. 

Prerequisites

The courses FFR160 Sustainable development and FFR166 Science of environmental change or equivalent. It is recommended but not necessary to have taken the course VMI010 Environmental systems analysis.  

Aim and learning outcomes of the course

The aim of the course is that students should gain knowledge and skills about some analytical tools and methods applied in Industrial Ecology to support them to assess critical aspects of sustainability, focus on environmental impacts and resource constraints, and to suggest measures towards sustainable development. The focus is on technical systems and life cycles of resources and products.  

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

  1. Describe the field of industrial ecology, including its history and current use;
  2. Explain, identify, and assess critical aspects of the sustainability of materials and technologies; 
  3. Describe the industrial metabolism for a set of materials from a sustainability perspective; 
  4. Make and use simple models of materials and technologies to assess and deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations even with limited information; 
  5. Describe and explain the characteristics (e.g. purpose, intended users, system boundaries, dimensions) of different approaches to sustainability assessment in industrial ecology including their strengths and limitations;  
  6. Use material flow analysis (MFA) and technology assessment (TA) along with sustainability indicators and scenario analysis to conduct sustainability assessments, including ethical implications;
  7. Explain how methodological choices and assumptions influence sustainability assessments in industrial ecology, including MFAs and TAs;  
  8. Clearly and unambiguously present (orally) conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these. 

Content of the course 

The course includes: 

  • An overview of the field of Industrial Ecology; 
  • A set of analytical tools and methods applied in Industrial Ecology that apply a systems approach to analyse the environmental, resource and societal impact of technologies and industries: material flow analysis, sustainability indicators, technology assessment, and scenarios; 
  • Experience with identifying potential actions for societal, policy and industrial actors; 
  • Students’ presentations of the industrial metabolism of a set of materials from a sustainability perspective; 
  • Students’ presentations of foresight-based technology assessments for a set of technologies. 

Course design 

The course includes two large projects that are performed in teams of students. In Project 1, teams are formed by the teacher. In the second project, the teams are formed by the students in Canvas. For Project 2, please form your teams by Wednesday April 24th at 23:59. Anyone not in a team by this time will be automatically assigned to a team. The workload for Project 1 is estimated to 50-70 hours per student, and for Project 2 to 70-90 hours per student. The course includes lectures, in-class exercises, and literature that work as a base and support for both the projects and the written exam. In addition, each project is supported through feedback of a project proposal. The students present their projects both orally and in written form.  

Assessment 

The course is divided into two parts:

  1. Projects: 4.5 credits
  2. Written exam: 3.0 credits.

The grading for the whole course is: 3, 4 or 5 and is based on the performance in both parts. 

The following requirements must be fulfilled to pass the projects: 

  • Take an active part in the group work, which should correspond to an approximately equal distribution of work among the students in the group; 
  • Submit project proposals and group contracts; 
  • Attend compulsory consultation sessions (both projects) and feed-back session (project 1), see the detailed schedule below; 
  • Participate in the presentations of the group, and attend the presentations of the other groups; 
  • Hand in power point presentations, contribution statements, and reflections about the group work; 
  • Approved report for project 2. 

Bonus points will be given to students in groups that perform well in the projects. The bonus points will be added to the points received at the exam, which can result in a higher grade. However, the bonus points cannot be used to pass the exam. The bonus points can only be used during the ordinary exam and the two following re-exams. Each project can get 0, 2, or 4 bonus points depending on how well they have met the projects’ aims and objectives. The student presentations and the power-point slides are used for the evaluation together with the report for project 2.  

Schedule

You can find a detailed schedule in the Home page or TimeEdit

Note that it is strongly recommended that you attend classes and complete the reading. Both are designed to support your project work and it may be difficult to pass the course without participating in classes and doing the reading.

Course literature

You can find PDF files/links to each reading in Course literature. External link to Chalmers library may require you to be signed in to your Chalmers account. List of readings relevant for each lecture is available in the detailed scheduled in Home page.

Please observe that there can be some additional extra literature added to this list during the course. The purpose of the extra literature is: 1) to include some historically interesting papers, 2) to facilitate the performance of the projects, and 3) to improve the results at the exam. 

Readings on industrial ecology 

Lifset, R. and Graedel, T., 2002. Industrial ecology: goals and definitions. In: Ayres, R. and Ayres, L. (Eds.), A Handbook of Industrial Ecology 

Extra: 

Ayres, R., 1989. Industrial metabolism. In: Ausubel, J. and Sladovich, H. (Eds.) Technology and Environment 
Ayres, R., 1994. Industrial metabolism: theory and policy. In: Ayres, R. and Simonis, U. (Eds.) Industrial Metabolism: Restructuring for Sustainable Development 
Ayres, R. and Ayres. L., 1996. Chapter 1: Introduction: materials perspective. In: Industrial Ecology: Towards Closing the Materials Cycle 
Frosch, R. and Gallopoulos, N., 1989. Strategies for manufacturing, Scientific American 

Readings on material flow analysis 

Brunner, P.H. and Rechberger, H., 2004. Material Flow Analysis (Selection of pages) 

Extra: Stigliani, W. and Anderberg, S., 1994. Industrial metabolism at the regional level: The Rhine Basin. In. Ayres, R. and Simonis, U. (Eds.), Industrial Metabolism: Restructuring for Sustainable Development. United Nations University Press, Tokyo, pp. 119-162 

Readings on indicators

Karlsson, S., 1997. Man and materials flows – Towards sustainable materials management. Chapters 4 and 7 
Lundin, M., 2003. Sustainability indicators: state of the art. In: Indicators for Measuring the Sustainability of Urban Water Systems: A Life Cycle Approach. Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, pp.5-15 
Mitchell, G., May, A. and McDonald, A., 1995. PICABUE: a methodological framework for the development of indicators of sustainable development 

Readings on technology assessment 

Woensel, L. V. (2021). Guidelines for foresight-based policy analysis. European Parliamentary Research Service. 
Woensel, L. V. (2020). A Bias Radar for Responsible Policy-Making, Foresight-Based Scientific Advice. St Antony’s Series, Chapter 1 and 4. (Other chapters can be considered as “Extra”).

Extra: 

Reports from: Panel for the Future of Science and Technology or within the European Parliamentary Research Service.  
Coates, J. F. 1976. The role of formal models in technology assessment. Technol Forecast Soc 9, 139–190. 
Andersson, B. and Råde, I., 2001. Material constraints on technology evolution: The case of scarce metals and emerging energy technologies 
Kushnir, D. and Sandén, B., 2012. The time dimension and lithium resource constraints for electric vehicles 

Readings on scenario construction 

Schwartz, P. (1991). The Art of the Long View.pdf. Doubleday. Page 105-123 and Appendix. Other chapters can be considered “Extra”. 
Rhydderch, A. (2017). Scenario Building: The 2x2 Matrix Technique. Futuribles International. 

Extra: 

Ravetz, J. R. (1997). The science of ‘what-if?’ Futures, 29 (6), 533–539.  
Wack, P. (1985). Uncharted waters. Harvard Business Review, 1(2), 136–137. 

Readings on policy advice 

Pielke, R. (2012) The Honest Broker. Cambridge UP. Chapters 1-3. Other chapters can be considered “Extra”.