The MatchMaker! System: Creating Virtual Eco-Industrial Parks 1997

The virtual eco-industrial park alters the Kalundborg model by allowing firms that are not in proximity with one other to exchange material flows. Bechtel Corporation Research and Development, San Francisco, has studied the Kalundborg model and numerous other eco-industrial parks (EIPs) in order to assess the viability of industrial symbiosis (IS) on a grander scale. A world leader in engineering and design, Bechtel is frequently contracted to build and manage industrial parks on a large scale worldwide. Bechtel has had some success with a prototype virtual eco-industrial project in Brownsville, Texas. Existing material exchanges operate over regions and industries, providing services over the Internet and through books. These services use different material classification systems, making integration difficult. Our team’s project built upon the experience of Brownsville and the material exchanges by designing and creating a new system for matching materials flows. The system uses a material taxonomy which operates in a similar way to the standard industrial classification system (SIC) code hierarchy. The system, called MatchMaker!, is based upon a relational database, providing a path for future development. MatchMaker! can be used by firms and local authorities to perform material flow analyses over wide geographical areas. Information from New Haven industries has been imported into MatchMaker! from a commercially available CD-ROM, but standard material flow data is insufficient to perform a regional matching exercise. The next steps examined in this paper are the entry of standard SIC-based material flows into the database, enhancement of the material taxonomy, and eventual ownership of the product. Future visions include the ability to automatically map the material flows, a web-based database, and integration of local, regional, and national eco-industrial parks.