Industrial metabolism

Nicholas M. Holden

Chapter 91 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, 2026, pp 341-344 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Industrial metabolism is a theoretical framework for understanding material and energy flows among industrial entities, wider society, and the natural environment. It uses the analogy of biological metabolism to structure and describe how an industrial system functions. The general conceptualization at the market scale encompasses supply of biological resources limited by solar radiation, supply of mineral resources limited by mining, energy supply, human labour, human demand for products, natural systems, industrial systems, resource consumption and emissions, and waste disposal to the biosphere sink. These are all regulated by the economic system, which acts as the metabolic regulator. A generalized approach to collecting and analysing data is outlined, and a case study used to illustrate the type of insights that can be obtained.

Keywords: Biosphere; Technosphere; Substance flow analysis; Material flow analysis; Carbon efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035309887
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