Including Ecosystem Services for Developing Innovative Processes and their Life Cycles

Sustaining industrial and human activities is not possible without ecosystem goods and services such as cycling of nutrients, pollination, and regulation of air and water quality.  Despite their importance, the capacity of ecosystems to provide such services continues to be undervalued or ignored.  This raises possibilities of unintended harm and missed opportunities for innovative solutions that benefit from the ability of ecosystems to satisfy human needs.  This talk will describe the framework of techno-ecological synergy for including the role of ecosystems in chemical manufacturing and sustainability assessment.  Designing a biodiesel manufacturing process with on-site ecosystems will demonstrate innovative opportunities for approaching net zero emissions.  Accounting for ecosystem capacity in LCA will help identify novel opportunities for developing circular systems with net positive impact.