Systems engineering modelling: a new tool to achieve industrial ecology project according to the territorial context.
Résumé
Industrial Ecology (IE) concept first appeared in scientific literature in 1970 but has not really been seriously considered before being introduced by R. Frosch and N. Gallopoulos in 1989. Today, many IE applications are developing all over the world. Nevertheless, most projects are still only considered as pilot project: they are neither self-organized nor self-financed and are sometimes interrupted, waiting for further funds. Literature review shows that behaviors and decisional processes at a territorial scale need to be modified to develop IE concept in a long-term perspective. Unfortunately, this change did not seem to happen. That is why we can wonder if IE project is indeed able to achieve sustainable development targets, using methods and recommendations available in scientific literature. Our review of these methodological propositions used in IE projects shows that they do not take the particular context of the region into account. Furthermore, they are dispersed in literature and refer to specific aspects. It seems that no global procedure does exist. Considering this, our methodological proposition aims at proposing a hierarchical representation of the main tools and methods thanks to systems engineering modeling. The first original feature of our proposition is twofold: suggest an inventory of relevant methodological tools and recommendations already available; when gaps are identified, develop new methods based on experiences reviews. For example, industrial symbiosis is often presented as offering both environmental and economical benefits to the participants in the network, but few tools are today available to document and quantify these benefits. The second feature of the model is to better take the particular context of the region into account. Our model indicates what the best procedure is to achieve an IE project according to the territorial economic, political and social context. Finally, this new tool will be tested on French experiences of IE projects.