Ecological design applied

Over the past three decades ecological design has been applied to an increasingly diverse range of technologies and innovative solutions for the management of resources. Ecological technologies have been created for the food sector, waste conversion industries, architecture and landscape design, and to the field of environmental protection and restoration. The five case studies presented here represent applications of ecological design in five areas: sewage treatment, the restoration of a polluted body of water, the treatment of high strength industrial waste in lagoons, the integration of ecological systems with architecture, and an agriculturally based Eco-Park. Case #1 is an Advanced Ecologically Engineered System (AEES) for the treatment of sewage in Vermont, a cold climate. The facility treated 300 m3 per day (79,250 gallons per day) of sewage to advanced or tertiary wastewater standards, including during the winter months. A number of commercial byproducts were developed as part of the treatment process. Case #2 involved the treatment of a pond contaminated with 295 m3 per day (77,930 gallons per day) of toxic leachate from an adjacent landfill. A floating Restorer was built to treat the polluted pond. The Restorer was powered by wind and solar based energy sources. Over the past decade the pond has improved. There has been a positive oxygen regime throughout the water column, bottom sediments have been digested and the quality of the sediment chemistry has improved. The biodiversity of the macrobenthos of the pond has increased as a result of the improved conditions. Case #3 involved the treatment of 37,850 m3 per day (1 million gallons per day) of high strength waste from a poultry processing plant utilizing a dozen AEES Restorers. The technology has resulted in a 74% drop in energy requirements for treatment and has dramatically reduced the need for sludge removal. Currently, sludge degradation is proceeding faster than sludge accumulation. Case #4 includes several examples of buildings that utilize ecologically engineered systems to treat, recycle and permit the reuse of wastewater. The new Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College is a recent example of this trend. Case #5 describes the work that is leading to the creation of an urban, agriculturally based, Eco-Park in Burlington, Vermont. Waste heat from a nearby power station will provide year round climate control in a structure developed for food processing businesses, including a brewery, and for the onsite growth of diverse foods in integrated systems. We also describe a project to amplify the value of waste organic materials through biological conversion to high value products such as fish, flowers, mushrooms, soils amendments, and livestock and fish feeds. An ecologically designed fish culture facility will be an integral part of the Eco-Park complex. The project is intended to demonstrate the economic viability of integrative design in an urban setting and to address the important issue of locally based food production. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.