Our future prosperity is related to sustainable production of manufactured goods and consumption of resources. The depletion of natural resources, rising greenhouse gas emissions with consumption of energy and materials require careful considerations for future uses of energy and materials. The demand for materials used to create buildings, infrastructure, equipment and products is expected to double in the next 40 years. Understanding the effects of materials and energy flows in the environment and changing materials and energy consumption is critical for our efforts to foster sustainability.
Thus the symposium will focus on communicating what roadmaps can help achieve more sustainable energy and materials flows in cities (urban metabolism) and in industrial systems (industrial ecology). The symposium will discuss the theme in a global context as well as considering Canada’s political, economic, environmental and social setting.