Circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. Unlike the traditional linear economic model based on a 'take-make-consume-throw away' pattern, a circular economy is based on the notion that all wastes can be considered as valuable resources in an almost closed loop, where products and the materials they contain are highly valued. In practice, it implies reducing waste to a minimum. Examination of the current knowledge and performance on resource efficiency and circular economy of industrial enterprises in companies in the Baltic Sea Region-in Finland, Sweden, Latvia and St. Petersburg Region, Russia -was in focus in the two parallel twinning international projects «ERREC 2.0» (Environmental Responsibility and ITMO University (Russia). The main overall objective of the projects was to increase the level of education among young and elderly people to guarantee skilled work force with a relevant level of awareness in the area of resource efficiency leading to a circular economy. The specific objectives of the projects included there cognition of new technologies, innovations and joint activity models to support skills development in circular economy and resource efficiency in participating regions between companies and higher education institutions (HEIs).Cooperation with businesses will provide the HEIs in the Baltic Sea Region with resource efficiency related research topics corresponding to their industry. In the future projects, these topics will be worked on using different methods to bring together students, companies and university staff to investigate companies' activities and possibilities to make them more resource and environmentally efficient and also economically more competitive. To evaluate the current knowledge and performance on resource efficiency and circular economy, a survey was distributed to51companies in the project partner countries. In addition, the survey aimed to find out the companies' experiences and willingness to engage in university-industry collaboration. In the survey, about 78% of the respondents chose sustainability ingeneral (including concepts such as social/environmental/economic sustainability, corporate social responsibility, fair trade etc.) as the most important concepts leading to circular economy. These were followed by the resource efficiency Научный журнал НИУ ИТМО. Серия Экономика и экологический менеджмент № 4, 2018 126 concept: (waste minimization, energy efficiency, material efficiency etc.) with 76% of the responses. The results will promote the sharing of knowledge between universities and companies, offer valuable information on the competences needed in working life, and may lead to new cooperation between Baltic, Nordic and Russian companies and universities.Сакари Аутио Sakari.Autio@lamk.fi Университет прикладных наук Лахти 15140, Финляндия, Лахти, ул. Ниеменкату 7...
For the purpose of using the residual or wasted heat, many scientists are currently conducting research on the possibility of using the wasted heat. At the same time, an active search is underway for new materials and new technologies that will improve the characteristics to increase ecological efficiency of the thermal module and heat accumulator. To guarantee the transition to environmentally friendly energy when searching for or creating new materials and technologies, it is necessary to conduct an environmental analysis and confirm the safety of materials for the environment based on a life cycle assessment. Without a life cycle assessment, the claim that a product or service is safe for the environment will be unfounded. In addition, the transfer of the environmental load to the stage of obtaining materials can lead to the fact that the use of new energy converters will be much more dangerous and less efficient in terms of consumed natural resources than not using “lost” heat. In this regard, before introducing into mass production, it is advisable to analyze the life cycle of a new material (prototype) with obtaining confirmation of safety for the environment, which was done in this work. Based on the obtained results conclusions were drawn about the advisability of using auxiliary technologies that increase the energy efficiency of a traditional thermal installation.
The paper considers the procedure and methodology for assessing the environmental and economic efficiency of using alternative energy sources installed at industrial enterprises, which can significantly reduce climate risks by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in replaced sources. Based on the proposed methodology, the costs of introducing a hybrid solar installation at an electronic equipment manufacturing enterprise were determined, resource efficiency indicators of efficiency and environmental impact, as well as the cost of generated energy, were calculated. It is shown that the application of the methodology will contribute to the selection of the best available technologies for alternative energy and the achievement of the goals of the Climate Strategy of St. Petersburg.
In accordance with the principles of sustainable development, all production wastes should be considered as sources of raw materials for other production. Whey in Russia was previously discarded with wastewater, but after studying its properties, it turned out that it has great potential for the production of protein-enriched products. And in order to further reduce the environmental impact, a milk protein life cycle assessment has been carried out. The article presents the results of the study of this assessment. The analysis was carried out for such indicators of the category as global warming potential, total emissions of substances that contribute to ozone formation, total emissions of acidifying compounds, potential for eutrophication, consumption of abiotic resources, consumption of biotic resources, water consumption, air consumption. The categories of impacts that make the greatest contribution to environmental pollution and resource consumption are identified, namely, total emissions of substances that contribute to ozone formation by categories of output flows and water consumption by categories of input flows. Recommendations was given to reduce the impact.
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