APPENDIX
A
Workshop Agenda
U.S.-JAPAN WORKSHOP ON INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
March 1–3, 1993
Beckman Center, Irvine, California
MONDAY, MARCH 1, 1993
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8:30 |
Opening Remarks, Frosch/Uenohara Introductions, Participants |
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Policy and regulatory influences on R&D and corporate practices |
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10:00 |
The influence of energy policy and R&D on technological choice and productivity, Watanabe |
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11:00 |
Environmental protection: Opportunities for R&D and technological innovation, Lindsey |
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Corporate and government responses and future trends: Consequences for R&D, innovation, and practice—Energy and materials use |
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11:45 |
Green engineering in Japanese electric utilities, Mitsui |
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1:30 |
American utilities and energy strategies, Yeager |
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2:15 |
Material production and industrial ecology, Akimoto |
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3:15 |
Designing green products, Eyring |
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4:00 |
Recycling and ecofactory initiatives in Japan, Yumoto |
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1993
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8:30 |
Review and discussion of previous day's proceedings, Richards |
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Prospects for synergistic efforts between Japan and the United States |
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9:00 |
A view from Japan, Takeda |
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Corporate and government responses and future trends: Consequences for R&D, innovation, and practice—Decision tools, engineering design, and corporate practice |
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9:45 |
Life cycle assessment, Denison |
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10:45 |
Flexible manufacturing, computers, and communication systems in optimizing resource use, Uenohara |
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11:30 |
Design for the Environment, Allenby |
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1:30 |
Meeting environmental constraints: Potential for disassembly, refurbishment, and reuse, Maki |
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Building for recyclability in the automobile industry |
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2:15 |
Japanese automobile industry case study, Marumo |
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3:00 |
U.S. automobile industry case study, Labana |
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Prospects for synergistic efforts between Japan and the United States |
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3:45 |
A view from United States, Szekely |
The government, for example, can provide a long-term vision for the next century, whereas the private sector tends to focus on the short term. Governments should therefore work multilaterally to coordinate environmental efforts.
Industry, as a driving force for technological change, needs to reconsider its R&D structure and work toward transforming the current industrial ecology to one that is sustainable. Industry should also reexamine the way it manages its activities and define its new responsibility toward the global community.
This cooperative spirit will have to be built around the similarities and differences that exist between nations. Table 4 shows points of intersection and divergence between the United States and Japan are cultures. Such points must become the basis for building a cooperative, collaborative enterprise that examines issues relating to industrial ecology.
DISCUSSION
The workshop provided an excellent opportunity for the exchange of views and information on environmental practices in industry in the context of industrial ecology. Japan is a nation with a very high population density, so industrial pollution and waste disposal perhaps have a more direct impact on the population than in the United States, where it has been possible to separate industrial activity and population centers to a greater extent. At the same time, in Japan there is a cooperative relationship between government and industry, and plans, or “guidance,” by organizations like MITI are well heeded. In the United States, often there is an adversarial relationship between government and industry, and many of the environmental issues are decided in courts of law or are sensationalized by the news media.
The material presented at the workshop, to some extent, reflected this state of affairs. Many of the contributions from the United States were philosophical, addressing conceptual issues, while many of the Japanese contributions were quite pragmatic, involving the presentation of case studies and actual success stories. The recycling of automobiles as discussed by representatives of Ford and Nissan provided interesting and important common ground.
Workshop participants observed that the greatest potential for U.S.-Japanese collaboration and cooperation on industrial ecology exists in the substantive areas of the subject and less in developing new technology that may affect the competitive standing of either country. In addition, many participants believed there is much the United States could learn from Japan, and vice versa. Workshop discussion revealed two general areas of collaboration that would forward a better understanding of materials and new recycling methods:
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Studying and comparing the flows of materials and energy through specific industrial sectors in the two countries.
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Finding cross-industry linkages for the productive use of wastes (and embedded energy) such as adapting primary industry processes to make use of “waste” from secondary or manufacturing industries.
Some participants also expressed a need to work together on developing and applying a common methodology for life cycle analysis. There were great differences in opinions expressed at the workshop about such a methodology. Yet development of an easily usable method to evaluate materials and products for environmental preferability poses significant challenges and suggests opportunity for collaboration. Existing mechanisms of exchange between the United States and Japan should be used to encourage further effort in these areas.
Most participants agreed on the need for collaboration and extensive information exchange between the United States and Japan in industrial ecology. In view of the complexity and breadth of the issues, no clear road maps can be drawn at this stage, but there seems to be a strong consensus that further meetings of this type and larger bilateral and international conferences would be needed to define specific actionable items. The establishment of practical applications of life cycle analysis, the development of data bases for information about materials, the documentation of best practices, and collaborative efforts on precompetitive green technologies seem to be logical objectives to pursue.
