The eco-business approach seeks opportunities for businesses to save costs by strategically coordinating resource use. For example, energy costs can be reduced through business-to-business heat recovery or district energy systems, or water costs can be reduced through wastewater cascading schemes.

By-Product Synergy (BPS):

BPS positions “waste” as a “misplaced resource” – secondary or by-products containing materials or energy that businesses paid for, but from which they haven’t extract all possible value. Managing by-products represents real costs to business (e.g. solid waste disposal fees). BPS transforms one or more businesses’ wastes into one or more other businesses’ feedstock, creating new revenue sources, reducing handling and raw material costs, and reducing environmental impact.

BPS Applied to Wastewater

Much of the water used by industry is of a much higher quality than it needs to be. In addition, “clean” wastewater is often discharged straight to the sanitary sewer, where its value is lost. Wastewater cascading involves the re-use of wastewater to displace potable water, by closely matching actual water use requirements with the quality of the water supply.

BPS Applied to Waste Energy / Heat: Heat Exchange Networks

Many businesses are already recovering heat internally to improve their efficiency and reduce their operating costs. Waste heat recovery can also involve separate businesses. One of the most common municipal initiatives is the recovery of waste heat from ice arenas to heat adjacent buildings.