The environmental problems created by industry stem primarily from the use of a strictly linear production process: extracting raw materials and fossil energy, processing the material and energy, and dumping the waste back into natural systems. In response, an innovative new theory termed Industrial Ecology is emerging to guide firms toward sustainable production. Industrial Ecology aims to incorporate the cyclical patterns of ecosystems into designs for industrial production processes that will work in unison with natural systems. Key aspects of industrial ecology are:

Incorporating passive, natural systems to minimize energy expenditure
Designing building and systems that: utilize natural lighting, ventilation and thermal storage; ecological systems to cleanse air and water impurities such as John Todd’s “living machines”; and “on-demand” principles for the creation/use of hazardous chemicals. 

Dematerialization of industrial output
Striving to decrease materials and energy intensity in industrial production. On key aspect is the shift towards providing services instead of products.

Improving the efficiency of industrial processes
Re-designing production processes and patterns for maximum conservation of resources within the system, i.e. using sytem by-products to create other materials are resources of value.

Development of renewable energy supplies for industrial production
Creating a energy system that functions as an integral part of industrial eco-systems that is based as much as possible on renewables

Industrial Ecosystems
Fostering cooperation among various industries whereby the waste of one production process becomes the feedstock for another.

Balancing industrial input and output to the constraints of natural systems
Identifying ways that industry can safely interface with nature, in terms of location, intensity, and timing, and developing indicators for real-time monitoring.