Copper is one of the three most important metals in the world economy, and the only one of the three that is comparatively scarce in the earth's crust. Known reserves will only last a few decades at projected rates of consumption. While some substitution possibilities exist for some of its applications, copper is uniquely valuable as a conductor of electricity in a world that is rapidly electrifying. This fact makes the copper life cycle an appropriate subject for holistic analysis. This book, which includes a quantitative demand forecasting model, is based on a study commissioned by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) fills that need for the first time.

Among the conclusions of the study are the following. The medium-term prospects for copper producers and copper consuming industries include (1) more intensive exploration into more remote regions, (2) utilization of lower grade ores resulting in more mine wastes and associated waste disposal problems, (3) more intensive mining efficient ore reduction processes, (4) dramatic price increases when the current glut works itself out, (5) significant changes in the patterns of consumption (increasingly electrical applications), (6) sharp increases in the need for recovering and recycling old scrap copper in the future, (7) a significant buildup of copper and by-products (especially arsenic) either in use or in the human environment. Similar implications can be drawn for two other scarce and toxic metals - lead and zinc - often found in geological association with copper.

Industrial Ecology is perhaps the first serious attempt to go beyond general statements regarding the desirability of 'clean technology' and to assess realistically and quantitatively the range of practicable possibilities for reducing materials extraction, consumption and waste.This major new book examines strategic options for reducing wastes and pollution and increasing the productivity of materials. Using an industrial ecology perspective, the authors analyse thirteen generic cases of material, beginning with four families of metals (aluminium, chromium, copper and zinc), several families of chemicals (phosphates and fluorine; suphur-based, nitrogen-based and chlorine-based), silicon and several different types of waste. Opportunities for creating 'industrial ecosystems' by deliberate design are discussed as well as the use of low-value by-products as feed stocks for useful products. In addition to surveying the technological possibilities, the authors also consider the public interest, institutional barriers and the range of possible alternatives that might be applicable. Environmental scientists, economists, practitioners and policy makers will welcome Industrial Ecology's integrated approach and the emphasis which it places on resource productivity, materials cycle optimization and waste minimization.

This innovative book presents new research on the increasingly important need to account for the use of resources, and the dispersion of waste materials. It considers resource accounting both at the process level and at the materials level, and in addition offers policy suggestions for waste and resource accounting. The book opens with an introduction to industrial metabolism and its various implications. It then goes on to examine resource accounting at the national and sectoral level, through the systematic application of the mass-balance principle to estimate materials losses at different stages of the production process. It then examines one cluster of industries (related to chlorine) in greater detail. At the process level the use of chemical process simulation software in the estimation of waste emissions is examined, specifically focusing on cases where emissions data is unavailable or unreliable. Finally it introduces, for the first time, a common single measure for evaluating and comparing process or sectoral resource and waste flows between time periods, between sectors and between regions and nations. This measure is known as exergy, and although not new in itself, it has never before been used systematically for these purposes. In conclusion the author summarizes the main problems of resource and waste accounting and offers some policy recommendations for the implementation of accounting for resources. Accounting for Resources ,1 will be welcomed by environmental managers and scientists, economists, practitioners and government policymakers.

This companion to Accounting for Resources, 1 tracks the life cycle of specific elements, such as chlorine and heavy metals, in order to estimate the generation and dissipative losses of material wastes. The book begins with a succinct review of the life-cycle analysis methodology and evaluates some of its weaknesses in estimating the generation of waste. The authors propose a new quantitative measure of the potential for environmental harm of waste materials. They include case studies to add weight to their proposal. Four horizontal life-cycle case studies are included; one for chlorine and chlorine chemicals; one for mercury; one for arsenic and cadmium; and the other for copper, lead and zinc. The book also includes a longitudinal study of heavy metals use and dissipation, during the period 1880-1980 with reference to the Hudson-Raritan basin. The book concludes with an overview, including some recommendations for future research and for policy changes with respect to governmental statistical data collection and organization.