Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Eco-restructuring: The transition to an ecologically sustainable economy / Robert U. Ayres -- 2. The biophysical basis of eco-restructuring: An overview of current relations between human economic activities and the global system / Walther Manshard -- 3. Ecological process engineering: The potential of bioprocessing / Anton Moser -- 4. Materials futures: Pollution prevention, recycling, and improved functionality / Pradeep Rohatgi, Kalpana Rohatgi and Robert U. Ayres -- 5. Global energy futures: The long-term perspective for eco-restructuring / Hans-Holger Rogner -- 6. Fuel decarbonization for fuel cell applications and sequestration of the separated COb2s / Robert H. Williams -- 7. Photovoltaics / Paolo Frankl -- 8. Global eco-restructuring and technological change in the twenty-first century / Faye Duchin -- 9. Agro-eco-restructuring: Potential for sustainability / Heinrich Wohlmeyer -- 10. The restructuring of tropical land-use systems / Gilberto C. Gallopin.

11. The restructuring of transport, logistics, trade, and industrial space use / Paul M. Weaver -- 12. National and international policy instruments and institutions for eco-restructuring / Mikoto Usui.

Following on from the critically acclaimed Industrial Metabolism, this study provides a significant contribution to the literature on sustainability by identifying, on a sectoral basis, the critical issues facing the world as a whole, and the technical feasibility of addressing them. A new paradigm of eco-restructuring for sustainable development is introduced, involving shifts in technology, economic activities and lifestyles needed to harmonize human activities with natural systems.