Évaluer des projets d'écologie industrielle sur des parcs d'activité : des synergies au territoire

Industrial Ecology (IE) aims at minimizing energy and material flows within industrial processes. Initially, IE was thought of as an analogy between industrial and natural systems. In the latter, energy and material flows are cycled so that the system tends to become self1-sufficient. IE synergies are not limited to inter-company flows; they may be undertaken on larger scales, e.g. territory. The stakes are then different, especially in terms of Sustainable Development (SD) since IE promotes more sustainable forms of development on industrial parks or territories. An evaluation tools for SD applied to local IE projects is suggested. They are built to guide the decision-making process but may be used in a more general manner to assess territorial approaches to SD. Firstly, the general feasibility of an IE experiment is tested using a logical pattern of project organization that takes into account the different dimensions of IE (technical, economic, environmental, and risks). Secondly, indicators are classified into four themes: material and energy flows, functioning mode of the industrial area, environmental integration and territorial development. Some indicators refer to the corporate scale when others to a larger scope. Users will eventually choose among those indicators depending on the objectives of collective action or, even better, that all stakeholders of the project will construct together a set of indicators.