Skills Demand in Energy Intensive Industries Targeting Industrial Symbiosis and Energy Efficiency

Abstract

Technological development, closely related to the implementation of industrial symbiosis and energy efficiency, affects all areas of energy intensive industries, and involves the whole industrial workforce. This paper deals with a part of the work developed in the early stage of a current Erasmus+ project, which aims at developing an industry-driven and proactive skills strategy to assist the implementation and exploitation of industrial symbiosis and energy efficiency across the energy intensive sectors. The paper presents the current state of workforce in the context of industrial symbiosis and energy efficiency implementations. The most recent literature on the effects of new skills requirement and training needs for the European process industry workforce is analyzed and discussed. In addition, implementation advantages and barriers as well as possible solutions to satisfy ongoing and future skill demands are considered. Through skill integrations and workforce attraction and training, new skills, and greater abilities for working across sector boundaries can be achieved. In addition, policies on green economy and on skills development can enable anticipating labor market changes, by identifying skill requirement impacts. This can be achieved by introducing new training programs, revising existing ones and by monitoring the impact of trainings on the labor market.

Identifying and Categorizing Sustainable Supply Chain Practices Based on Triple Bottom Line Dimensions: Evaluation of Practice Implementation in the Cement Industry

“…The study revealed that the overall implementation of social sustainability indicators was at a high level. Reducing job challenges through employee learning and development programs is a wise approach [50]. The value of human capital in developing employees, highlighting the importance of CSR, and figuring out the best approach to implement it makes it a success factor for firms.…”

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“…In terms of energy industry symbiosis, Butturi et al (2019) expand from energy symbiosis in industrial parks to urban-industry energy symbiosis, arguing that urban-industry energy symbiosis can be realized through collective energy production and management. Branca et al (2022), in their study of labor skill needs for industrial symbiosis in energy-intensive industries, found that the waste treatment processes generated during industrial symbiosis may increase labor demand. Cao et al (2022) in their study of industrial symbiosis between energy industries such as thermal power and hydropower and the social sector across the country found that symbiosis between the thermal power industry and the social sector in terms of waste being able to be reproduced as cement and other symbiotic methods can save a lot of wasted resources and reduce SO 2 emissions and suggested that more emphasis should be placed on industrial symbiosis in the future development of industry.…”