Circular economy and energy transition: A nexus focusing on the non-energy use of fuels

Chen, Wei-Ming; Kim, Hana

doi:10.1177/0958305x19845759

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Circular economy (CE) or more recently "nature-based economy" (Rhodes et al, 2021) is defined as an "economic system that aims at minimizing waste and making the most of resources" (Langergraber et al, 2020). According to estimates, CE will reduce world energy production by 12.7%, assisting in the achievement of the Paris climate agreement (Chen and Kim, 2019). Indeed, at numerous levels and dimensions, energy transition and circular economic transition are inextricably linked.…”

Section: Circular Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-powering the Nature-Intensive Systems: Insights From Linking Nature-Based Solutions and Energy Transition

Asl

2022

Front. Sustain. Cities

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Nature-based and energy transition strategies are amongst most considerable solutions that are gaining popularity in recent years, especially in global north. This review provides a new approach to link these apparently independent concepts to highlight the potentials of coupled systems. Exploring common boundary concepts such as energy infrastructure, natural capital, land sink, ecosystem services etc. in both energy and environmental geography fields can facilitate our understanding toward potential contributions of nature-based solutions and energy transition for efficiency and sustainability goals. The results of this review can help to further develop robust coupled systems to deal with urban societal and environmental challenges such as land and energy scarcity. This review presents a variety of theoretical foundations and the rationales behind nature-based solutions and energy transition including socio-technical transitions, socio-ecological-technological, land-energy transition, and circular economy scholarships. Finally, by proposing future research directions, the role of each boundary concept in coupled NbS-ET systems is shown.

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Section: Circular Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-powering the Nature-Intensive Systems: Insights From Linking Nature-Based Solutions and Energy Transition

Asl

2022

Front. Sustain. Cities

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“…Frameworks for circular economy and renewable energy are more common, with Scopus returning 62 publications. However, only six articles carry a potential relevance upon scanning the titles and abstracts [353][354][355][356][357][358]. Klemeš et al [355] offer an overview of circular economy and sustainability in the context of energy systems, covering resource recovery, sustainability indicators, air pollution, and energy system optimisation for cooling, heating and power generation.…”

Section: Circular Economy Framework Across Energy Industriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking a transition perspective, Kylili et al [357] share a holistic approach for sustainable renewable energy developments, including circular economy approaches in the form of lifecycle assessments and more sustainable management of waste biomass. Salim et al [353] propose a framework of barriers, drivers and enablers for the solar PV sector to transition towards greater circularity, and Chen and Kim [354] compare the circular economy and energy transition contexts and argue for the non-energy use of fuels as a bridge to integrate them better. Searching for circular economy frameworks in photovoltaic systems specifically reveals the article by Contreras-Lisperguer, et al [359], developing a model to forecast material flows in support of the recycling of solar technologies.…”

Section: Circular Economy Framework Across Energy Industriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Velenturf

2021

Energies

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Circular economy and renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms are often assumed to be developed in synergy as part of sustainable transitions. Offshore wind is among the preferred technologies for low-carbon energy. Deployment is forecast to accelerate over ten times faster than onshore wind between 2021 and 2025, while the first generation of offshore wind turbines is about to be decommissioned. However, the growing scale of offshore wind brings new sustainability challenges. Many of the challenges are circular economy-related, such as increasing resource exploitation and competition and underdeveloped end-of-use solutions for decommissioned components and materials. However, circular economy is not yet commonly and systematically applied to offshore wind. Circular economy is a whole system approach aiming to make better use of products, components and materials throughout their consecutive lifecycles. The purpose of this study is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. This will require a holistic overview of potential circular economy strategies that apply to offshore wind, because focus on no, or a subset of, circular solutions would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences, such as replacing carbon impacts with water pollution, and short-term private cost savings with long-term bills for taxpayers. This study starts with a systematic review of circular economy and wind literature as a basis for the coproduction of a framework to embed a sustainable circular economy throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind energy infrastructure, resulting in eighteen strategies: design for circular economy, data and information, recertification, dematerialisation, waste prevention, modularisation, maintenance and repair, reuse and repurpose, refurbish and remanufacturing, lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning, site recovery, disassembly, recycling, energy recovery, landfill and re-mining. An initial baseline review for each strategy is included. The application and transferability of the framework to other energy sectors, such as oil and gas and onshore wind, are discussed. This article concludes with an agenda for research and innovation and actions to take by industry and government.

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“…Beyond that, environmental concerns also advocate bringing synergies between energy transition and circular economy [107], which could be attained by optimizing resources through the disposal of batteries at the end of their life cycle and the promotion of energy efficiency. This tackles manifold challenges, especially in developing countries, where the circular economy has received insufficient attention [108].…”

Section: Environmentalmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is Still Necessary for Supporting the SDG7 in the Most Vulnerable Contexts?

Eras-Almeida

Egido-Aguilera

2020

Sustainability

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The common agreement of the United Nation members pushes the 2030 Agenda ahead to alleviate poverty and ensure wellbeing for all, recognizing energy as a crucial pathway to achieving this goal under three core dimensions: human development, sustainable economic growth, and environmental sustainability. Affordable and clean energy is represented by the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7). This great scope represents a multifaceted challenge for all countries, especially for the most disadvantaged environments such as small islands and rural areas from developing countries. Both small islands and rural areas experience a scarcity of goods and services such as energy and are isolated from markets, have lack of human resources, difficulties in deploying economies of scale, and other issues that affect their development. Along the same line, their energy security is limited by their dependence on imported fuels, increasing electricity prices or making it infeasible to access electricity. This research builds the state of the art of off-grid energy systems for both contexts based on an extensive review of literature. The evidence shows that moving sustainable energy systems forward requires getting more people involved, the application of several business models, prevalent technological innovations, and the application of technical quality procedures. This perspective would really help to address the vulnerabilities of fragile locations. Here, auctions, the Energy Service Company, community, and Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) models and renewable energy projects based on mature technology present a great opportunity for a sustainable future, powering a nexus among energy, environment, and society.

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Circular economy and energy transition: A nexus focusing on the non-energy use of fuels

Cited by 25 publications

References 31 publications

Re-powering the Nature-Intensive Systems: Insights From Linking Nature-Based Solutions and Energy Transition

Re-powering the Nature-Intensive Systems: Insights From Linking Nature-Based Solutions and Energy Transition

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

What Is Still Necessary for Supporting the SDG7 in the Most Vulnerable Contexts?

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