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Selected Papers from ERSCP 2017: 18th European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A: Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2018) | Viewed by 26618

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Vasileios C. Kapsalis

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Guest Editor

School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zographou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece
Interests: energy systems; technical and economic optimization; renewables; environmental systems; phase-change materials; nanocomposites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Aravossis

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Guest Editor

Sector of Industrial Management and Operations Research, School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece
Interests: analysis and evaluation of investments for technical projects (cost-benefit analysis (CBA), analysis throughout the project life cycle (LCA), multi-criteria analysis); risk management; engineering economics; environmental economics; environmental planning; circular economy; evaluation of environmental investments with applications in operational research; planning, management and evaluation of environmental investments; evaluation of technological investments through life cycle analysis (LCA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA); planning and evaluation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in companies; planning and evaluation of projects for public private partnerships (PPPs)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The tremendous effort to achieve sustainable energy production and consumption has been acquiring a global interest, since it includes variable competitive approaches and contradicting preferences of the stakeholders. The technological advances, the socio-economic parameters involvement and the environmental impacts, outline a wide range of applicability of novel models and establish a better insight of the mechanisms of the market diffusion processes.

The 18th European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP2017), which will be held on the island of Skiathos, Greece, 1–5 October 2017, discusses the latest advances in a regional and global level of the above issues and attracts the scientific interest of many first order experts in the field. In this sense, this Special Issue selects papers that are subject to a rigorous peer review procedure, and disseminates an active interaction between the multi-disciplinary dynamics of the discussion outputs, the resource efficiency necessity and the low carbon transition, accordingly. We welcome literature reviews, research papers and case studies with a comprehensive interaction with the abovementioned topics and may not be restricted to those presented during the 18th ERSCP2017.

Dr. Vasilios C. Kapsalis
Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Aravossis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

energy
renewables
environment, industry, sustainable development
environmental systems
technological economics

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 451 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Mixed-Integer Programming Model for Assessing Energy-Saving Investments in Domestic Buildings under Uncertainty

by Panagiotis Kontogiorgos, Nikolaos Chrysanthopoulos and George P. Papavassilopoulos

Energies 2018, 11(4), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11040989 - 19 Apr 2018

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3341

Abstract

A decision support tool has been developed to evaluate energy-saving intervention investments for domestic buildings. Various potential interventions are considered, each affecting energy consumption and savings, as well as the total financial cost of the investment. The decision problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming problem. The implemented methodologies increase the efficiency and efficacy of the solution algorithms and can be applied to most realistic cases. The tool allows users to customize the problem based on their own preferences and find the optimal combination of investments. Uncertainty complicating the decision process is addressed by using interval analysis; therefore, the robustness of the optimal decision can be evaluated to facilitate the decision-making process. A domestic building in the Mediterranean area is used as a case study to demonstrate the functionality of this tool and to evaluate the impact of the decision-maker’s uncertainty on the optimal decision. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ERSCP 2017: 18th European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production)

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20 pages, 15724 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Multicriteria Evaluation of Small-Scale LNG Supply Alternatives: The Case of Greece

by Eleni Strantzali, Konstantinos Aravossis, Georgios A. Livanos and Nikos Chrysanthopoulos

Energies 2018, 11(4), 903; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11040903 - 12 Apr 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3951

Abstract

Natural gas as fuel for electricity production has significant advantages, such as the reduction of environmental emissions and the lower operational cost. Due to the flexibility of gas engines, the exploitation of renewable energy sources in an area, can be maximized. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the possibility of LNG supply for sustainable electricity production in insular small-scale electricity systems. A novel multicriteria evaluation model has been developed, based on the methods of Additive Value Model, PROMETHEE and Simos approach. A set of coherent criteria has been selected, that fits perfectly with the demands of this type of problem. The proposed methodology has been implemented in four Greek islands (as they are the most indicative examples and with future perspectives to use natural gas for electricity production) and in one power plant in the mainland (as another typical example of small-scale electricity production). The evaluation process included four supply alternatives that cover the annual fuel demands of the examined regions. The obtaining ranking showed that the development of a network supplying individual small-scale terminals in a roundtrip is preferable, compared to the separate supply of each terminal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ERSCP 2017: 18th European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production)

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Review

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29 pages, 1715 KiB

Open AccessReview

Investigation of Ecosystem Services and Circular Economy Interactions under an Inter-organizational Framework

by Vasilis C. Kapsalis, Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos and Konstantinos G. Aravossis

Energies 2019, 12(9), 1734; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12091734 - 08 May 2019

Cited by 74 | Viewed by 5769

Abstract

Nowadays, the conceptualization of circular economy is an attractive managerial tool among governments and businesses throughout the word, while ecosystem services are a contentious issue due to the particular needs of humans’ well-being. At this review the interactions between the principles of ecosystem services and the circular economy were investigated in the light of inter-organizational systems. This evaluation was based on more and more complex processes, while the integration of the growing circular economy concept within the shrinking parent ecosystem unveiled challenges and constraints for products’ end of life and quality. It was argued that: (a) The existence of social and people-related barriers can be considered under three groups, namely, the “sustainable provision and modeling schemes”, “socio-cultural appreciation and payment schemes”, and “regulatory and maintenance schemes”, (b) The impacts of circular economy—ecosystem services toward an inter-organizational functional stream model associated with distinguished proactive and post treatment risk values (c) The functionality and the accountability of the technosphere are the two critical components to support the restorative and the regenerative perspectives of the biosphere. The aforementioned findings unveiled new emerging paths to be further investigated, offering a deeper appraisal of circular economy under the inter-organizational perception. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ERSCP 2017: 18th European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production)

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31 pages, 5455 KiB

Open AccessReview

Digitisation and the Circular Economy: A Review of Current Research and Future Trends

by Okechukwu Okorie, Konstantinos Salonitis, Fiona Charnley, Mariale Moreno, Christopher Turner and Ashutosh Tiwari

Energies 2018, 11(11), 3009; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11113009 - 01 Nov 2018

Cited by 142 | Viewed by 12848

Abstract

Since it first appeared in literature in the early nineties, the Circular Economy (CE) has grown in significance amongst academic, policymaking, and industry groups. The latest developments in the CE field have included the interrogation of CE as a paradigm, and its relationship with sustainability and other concepts, including iterative definitions. Research has also identified a significant opportunity to apply circular approaches to our rapidly changing industrial system, including manufacturing processes and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) which, with data, is enabling the latest advances in digital technologies (DT). Research which fuses these two areas has not been extensively explored. This is the first paper to provide a synergistic and integrative CE-DT framework which offers directions for policymakers and guidance for future research through a review of the integrated fields of CE and I4.0. To achieve this, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR; n = 174) of the empirical literature related to digital technologies, I4.0, and circular approaches is conducted. The SLR is based on peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and early 2018. This paper also summarizes the current trends in CE research related to manufacturing. The findings confirm that while CE research has been on the increase, research on digital technologies to enable a CE is still relatively untouched. While the “interdisciplinarity” of CE research is well-known, the findings reveal that a substantial percentage is engineering-focused. The paper concludes by proposing a synergistic and integrative CE-DT framework for future research developed from the gaps in the current research landscape. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ERSCP 2017: 18th European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production)

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