Exergy: A universal metric for measuring resource efficiency to address industrial decarbonisation

Hernandez, Ana Gonzalez; Cullen, Jonathan M.

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2019.05.006

Cited by 39 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(93 reference statements)

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“…Increased ME measures enable less primary production for the same level of service or functionality, while increased EE contributes to decarbonization of primary steelmaking. While EE measures are relatively easy to define, the literature contains different definitions of ME (Hernandez & Cullen, 2019). For example, Allwood et al.…”

Section: Analytical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry: Implications for business model innovation

Axelson

Oberthür

Nilsson

2021

J of Industrial Ecology

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The European steel industry must achieve deep greenhouse gas emission reductions to become climate neutral by 2050. New business models are often proposed as one of the key solutions but are mostly addressed in general terms, without elaborating on or systematically analyzing how these new business models are actually linked to specific mitigation measures or strategies. In this paper, we assess when and to what extent different emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry have implications for business model innovation. Through a review of 42 recent publications on industrial decarbonization, we identify 9 types of decarbonization strategies for steelmaking and their emission reduction potential. The strategies achieve emission reductions through material efficiency, emission efficiency, or a combination of both. For each strategy, we analyze the need for incremental or radical changes in business models on the basis of a thorough reading of the business model literature. Our findings show that EU steel firms can pursue several strategies to decarbonize without having to radically innovate their business models. Importantly, material efficiency strategies, arguably key to decarbonization, imply more radical changes to business models than emission efficiency strategies. Our study is a first contribution to the systematic assessment of industrial decarbonization strategies from a business model perspective. It is also an attempt to bring more rigor to the understanding of the role of business models in industrial decarbonization.

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Section: Analytical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry: Implications for business model innovation

Axelson

Oberthür

Nilsson

2021

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…Therefore, the division of exergy into stages is an analytical decision to aid resource accounting, which in turn supports a more in-depth understanding of the key phases involved in production and consumption. Detailed reviews on exergy-based resource analysis can be found in Romero and Linares (2014), Sousa et al (2017) and Hernandez and Cullen (2019).…”

Section: Exergy Analysis For Resource Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource use and economic development: an exergy perspective on energy and material flows and stocks from 1900 to 2010

Carmona

Whiting

Wiedenhofer

et al. 2021

Resources, Conservation and Recycling

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Energy and materials support food production, maintain and expand material stocks such as buildings and roads, and provide services. In this paper, an exergy-based approach is used to provide an integrated perspective on the evolution of societal resource flows and stocks. The scope of this analysis is from resource extraction (primary exergy stage) to end uses such as low temperature heating and illumination (useful exergy stage). From 1900 to 2010, global exergy consumption at the primary stage increased from 115 to 903 EJ/year, of which 88-89% corresponded to energy flows, including food and feed. Useful exergy flows increased from 9 to 148 EJ/year, of which 47% in 2010 was contained within material goods. Primary to useful efficiency has doubled from 8% to 16%. However, this improvement is far from that which is required to achieve climate targets for 2060. The amount of resource flows required per unit of economic activity decreased at both the primary

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“…Similarly, in a material-based network, say that of circular economy where extra-boundary inputs comprise what would otherwise be waste streams, the metric gauges the system's ability in fully recirculating input streams internally. Such a performance formulation provides a versatile indicator compatible for examining both urban resource utilization and circular-economic performance [25,26].…”

Section: A Network Model Of Urban Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the use of random graphs in analysing resource utilization in urban systems

et al. 2020

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Urban resource models increasingly rely on implicit network formulations. Resource consumption behaviours documented in the existing empirical studies are ultimately by-products of the network abstractions underlying these models. Here, we present an analytical formulation and examination of a generic demand-driven network model that accounts for the effectiveness of resource utilization and its implications for policy levers in addressing resource management in cities. We establish simple limiting boundaries to systems' resource effectiveness. These limits are found not to be a function of system size and to be simply determined by the system's average ability to maintain resource quality through its transformation processes. We also show that resource utilization in itself does not enjoy considerable size efficiencies with larger and more diverse systems only offering increased chances of finding matching demand and supply between existing sectors in the system. Thermodynamically speaking, the rate of utilization of resources in cities is then subject to the quality of the imported resources, i.e. their exergetic content, as well as the efficiency of such systems in extracting the exergetic content in their processes [2].As cities grow in size and complexity, self-organizational behaviours that are typical of open thermodynamic systems emerge. These include diversifying intra-system interactions and increasing their intensity in order to more effectively process the increased energy intake [3]. Such behaviours provide the capacity for growth and expansion prompting cities to seek and destroy more exergetic content. Given the limited nature of resource supplies, this is typically better achieved by prolonging the chain of transformation processes within systems, i.e. keeping materials in systems for longer, which in turn increases their capacity in retaining and circulating quality resources through these longer chains [4,5]. For complex dissipative thermodynamic systems like cities, measuring this gradient of exergy destruction in the overall system serves as a performance indicator of the systems' capability to use resources they import and re-circulate [6]. This very quality is echoed in and underpins the working principles of circular economy where reduce, maintain, re-use, refurbish and recycle are incorporated to address the overextraction of resources through maximizing transformation efficiencies (reduce), keeping resource in use (maintain) and prolonging next-use chains (re-use, refurbish and recycle) through various strategies. Applying circular-economic principles not only relieves the demand on resource use, but also promotes system adaptations and product design for cutting waste and carbon emissions [7]. The essence of the circular economy is to retain the usefulness of resources through a hierarchy of strategies where higher levels of resource management such as maintenance to extend the current life are preferred, with reuse for a second life, and then repair and remanufacturing further down the ...

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Exergy: A universal metric for measuring resource efficiency to address industrial decarbonisation

Cited by 39 publications

References 63 publications

Emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry: Implications for business model innovation

Emission reduction strategies in the EU steel industry: Implications for business model innovation

Resource use and economic development: an exergy perspective on energy and material flows and stocks from 1900 to 2010

On the use of random graphs in analysing resource utilization in urban systems

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