Industrial Metabolism: A New Approach for Analysis of Chemical Pollution and Its Potential Applications
Year: 1992
Type: book
Abstract: Traditionally, studies of the environmental effects of chemical pollution have been conducted mostly by environmental scientists (usually after detrimental effects have been observed) and focussed mostly on the environment.Relatively little attention has been paid to the anthropogenic activities which have caused the pollution in the first place.There are, of course, many studies concerning sources of pollution, usually related to emissions from industrial point-sources.Far fewer studies exist on diffuse sources of emission generated during the normal use and consumption of materials, even though recent studies have indicated that the main sources of pollution in western industrialized nations are shifting away from industrial and manufacturing processes to the use and disposal of consumer and commercial goods.Even fewer studies have been conducted which analyze the economic and environmental spheres as a single entity.Much of the data required for these studies already exists, but has not been integrated over time and space to gain a deeper understanding of economy-environment interactions.Analysis of material flows through the industrial economy can provide a rich, complementary data base for the analysis of flows through the environment.Detailed information may be gained, for example, on sources of emissions, the relative magnitudes of those sources, the paths of transport of chemical emissions from the industrial economy to the environment, historical trends in emissions, scenarios of future emissions, and socioeconomic and political factors influencing emission trends.In addition, this approach provides the means for testing the effectiveness of proposed management strategies for reducing emissions.Since the analysis is based on the principle of mass balance, strategies that do not reduce emissions, but rather, shift them from one pollution pathway to another are readily exposed.Finally, it should be noted that the environmental impact of broad-scale, long-term chemical pollution from routine, daily activities is probably far greater than the impact from highly-publicized industrial accidents.Despite this, there is a scarcity of data on the rates at which chemicals are building up in forest lands, agriculture, and urban areas, and on the potential effects of these cumulative loads on the environment or human health.The approach of industrial metabolism provides a means for estimating the loads and evaluating their impact.As an example, in this paper an analysis is presented of cadmium inputs to agricultural lands in the Rhine Basin over a 40 year period.The analysis indicates that cadmium inputs have built up to such levels that shifts in pH that are quite feasible may pose a public health problem today, while comparable shifts in 1960 would not have done so.The object of this paper is to demonstrate the merit of studies in industrial metabolism as a new analytical tool for assessing the sources and flows of toxic chemicals, from which rational decisions can be made for their control and reduction.
Authors: William M. Stigliani, Peter R. Jaffé
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2346140999