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Applied Sciences
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Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability
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Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 16108

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. German A. Ferreira F.

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
AIMEN - Northwest Association of Metallurgical Research Technology, Pontevedra, Spain and University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: circular economy, resource efficiency and sustainability; disruption, technology, and resilience; design methods; industrial process and value chain integration; Industry 4.0

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Circular economy, resource efficiency, and sustainability have become key enablers for the sustainable development agenda. The extant recent literature covering these topics is mainly focused on the practical and technical levels of the actual physical flows of materials and energy, concrete metrics, tools, etc. However, the basic assumptions remain largely unexplored, causing a large number of unanswered questions in the scientific community. This Special Issue, therefore, serves as a forum to provide exploratory research and development that contains the latest significant advances in circular economy, resource efficiency, and sustainability. I invite contributions in topics that include but are not limited to advanced methodologies and selected indicators that allow formalizing connections between subsystems, develop multicriteria trade-offs of circular economy, resource efficiency, and sustainability, incorporate the social and economic dimension, and quantify uncertainties. Research works oriented toward the prediction of the behavior of the systems, assuming the implementation of circular economy, resource efficiency, and sustainability strategies with a time horizon to 2050, are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. German A. Ferreira F.
Guest Editor

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. Applied Sciences 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 2400 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

  • Sustainable energy systems
  • Energy, environmental and social indicators
  • Energy conservation
  • Energy efficiency
  • Carbon footprint management
  • Product environmental footprint
  • Organizational environmental footprint
  • Intelligent approaches for exploring the environment–energy nexus
  • Machine learning methods
  • Circular economy
  • Sustainable consumption

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1271 KiB  
Article
Accounting for Carbon Footprint Flows in Wine Production Process. Case Study in Spanish Winery
by Miguel Marco-Fondevila, José M. Moneva and Fernando Llena-Macarulla
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(23), 8381; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10238381 - 25 Nov 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2808
Abstract
Companies are gradually becoming conscious about the necessity of reducing their environmental impact and adopting low-carbon strategies in order to cope with increasing institutional and social demands. However, remaining competitive while reducing the environmental impact and improving the corporate image requires adopting sophisticated [...] Read more.
Companies are gradually becoming conscious about the necessity of reducing their environmental impact and adopting low-carbon strategies in order to cope with increasing institutional and social demands. However, remaining competitive while reducing the environmental impact and improving the corporate image requires adopting sophisticated mechanisms boosting eco-efficiency and keeping costs tight. Material Flows Cost Accounting (MFCA) is an instrument that allows the monitoring of, measurement of, and accounting for physical and monetary processes along the production process. If extended to the supply chain, and applied to the energy usage and CO2 emissions, it allows one to account for the Carbon Footprint (CF) of a company and its products at any given stage of the value chain. The current paper presents a case study developed under the framework of a three-year project to introduce an energy use and carbon emissions monitoring and accounting system in a large winery company in Spain, based on the MFCA approach and CF accountability. Including the supply chain of the company and the whole farming cycle of its main input, the case study presents the method and phases adopted to implement the project, its direct and indirect results and outcomes, and the conclusions that can be extracted, which may be inspirational for practitioners and scholars envisaging similar projects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability)
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19 pages, 481 KiB  
Article
Methodology for Dimensioning the Socio-Economic Impact of Power-to-Gas Technologies in a Circular Economy Scenario
by Eva Llera-Sastresa, Luis M. Romeo, Sabina Scarpellini and Pilar Portillo-Tarragona
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(21), 7907; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10217907 - 8 Nov 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2446
Abstract
Innovative and sustainable energy technologies are needed in the transition of energy toward a circular economy. Because of the use of renewable energy and carbon utilization, power-to-gas could be a cutting-edge technology that supports the circular model in future sustainable energy markets. However, [...] Read more.
Innovative and sustainable energy technologies are needed in the transition of energy toward a circular economy. Because of the use of renewable energy and carbon utilization, power-to-gas could be a cutting-edge technology that supports the circular model in future sustainable energy markets. However, this technology faces new technical and socio-economic challenges. The use of power-to-gas is limited because of barriers that limit the mobilization of investment capital. In addition, social and economic impacts on the territories in which these facilities are located are under study. In this context, the aims of this paper are: (i) To explore the determinants and barriers for power-to-gas technology to enhance the understanding of investment in innovative energy technologies; and (ii) to support effective policymaking and energy companies’ decision-making processes. This study defines and measures, from a circular economy perspective, the main impacts of the deployment of this technology on a territory in terms of volume of investment, employment generation, and CO2 capture. The study also provides a simplified methodology to contribute to the analysis of the use of power-to-gas. Finally, it improves the knowledge of the socio-economic impact of this cutting-edge technology for the transition of energy to a zero-emission scenario. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability)
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12 pages, 1511 KiB  
Article
A Heuristic Approach to the Decision-Making Process of Energy Prosumers in a Circular Economy
by José Ángel Gimeno, Eva Llera-Sastresa and Sabina Scarpellini
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(19), 6869; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10196869 - 30 Sep 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2373
Abstract
Renewable distributed energy and self-consumption are promising and sustainable solutions in the energy-transition scenario for moving toward a circular economy. In this future scheme, prosumers are expected to play a leading role in the forthcoming sustainable energy market, facing new technical, economic, and [...] Read more.
Renewable distributed energy and self-consumption are promising and sustainable solutions in the energy-transition scenario for moving toward a circular economy. In this future scheme, prosumers are expected to play a leading role in the forthcoming sustainable energy market, facing new technical, economic, and financial challenges as energy producers at a small scale. In fact, the adoption of photovoltaic (PV) self-consumption systems requires mobilizing capital for investment and their interaction with the market. In this scenario, the aim of this paper was to explore insights into the decision-making process of prosumers to enhance the understanding of self-consumption deployment and to support effective policymaking. This study contributes to the state of the art by defining and classifying determinants of the energy prosumers’ decision-making process and their relevance using a heuristic approach. Potential measuring tools and methods are analyzed through a specific case study of Spanish prosumers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability)
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18 pages, 888 KiB  
Article
Multiplicative Structural Decomposition Analysis of Spatial Differences in Energy Intensity among G20 Countries
by Yang Wang, Meng Sun, Rui Xie and Xiangjie Chen
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(8), 2832; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10082832 - 19 Apr 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2288
Abstract
Comparing the spatial differences in the energy intensity of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries and identifying the factors that influence these differences can help the G20 countries formulate targeted policies to achieve energy conservation goals. This study analyzes the spatial differences in [...] Read more.
Comparing the spatial differences in the energy intensity of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries and identifying the factors that influence these differences can help the G20 countries formulate targeted policies to achieve energy conservation goals. This study analyzes the spatial differences in the G20 countries’ energy intensity at the aggregate and sectoral levels based on an input–output framework and reveals its driving factors by employing multiplicative structural decomposition analysis, obtaining the sectoral energy intensity, input structure, and final demand structure effects. The results show that: (1) the gap in aggregate energy intensity among the G20 countries tended to converge from 2000 to 2014 with the reducing energy intensity in Russia, India, China, and South Korea having great potential to reduce global energy consumption and improve global energy efficiency; (2) in 2014, the main driving forces for above-average energy intensity was the sectoral energy intensity effect in India, South Korea, and Canada, the input structure effect in Russia and China, and the final demand structure effect in Indonesia; (3) using the average of the G20 countries as a reference, the energy reduction potential of China, Russia, India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Canada is 62.75, 31.94, 21.24, 7.67, 1.47, and 0.81 exajoules (EJ), respectively. The embodied energy consumption decline in these countries was equivalent to 21.78% of the G20’s total energy consumption in 2014; and (4) the most important factor of the high embodied energy intensity of key sectors in India and South Korea is the sectoral energy intensity effect, while for Russia and China, it is the input structure effect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability)
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20 pages, 1006 KiB  
Article
Eco-Efficiency Assessment for Some European Countries Using Slacks-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis
by Chia-Nan Wang, Hsien-Pin Hsu, Yen-Hui Wang and Tri-Tung Nguyen
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(5), 1760; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10051760 - 4 Mar 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 2942
Abstract
One problem raised by the lack of energy efficiency is the generation of more greenhouse gases (GHGs) that can cause air pollution and climate change. Ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) means the efficiency of resources used. A poor performance from this efficiency can then be [...] Read more.
One problem raised by the lack of energy efficiency is the generation of more greenhouse gases (GHGs) that can cause air pollution and climate change. Ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) means the efficiency of resources used. A poor performance from this efficiency can then be detected for further improvement. In this research, we conduct an assessment on the eco-efficiency for some European countries as they consume a large part of global energy annually. A total of 17 European countries were selected as decision making units (DMUs) and assessed by the Slacks-based measure (SBM) Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. Indices including Catch-Up, Frontier-Shift, and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) have been used to evaluate eco-efficiency, as well as efficiency change, technological change, and productivity change, over 2013–2017. In the model, energy consumption and share of renewable energy are used as energy inputs, and labor productivity and gross capital formation are used as economy inputs. On the other hand, GDP is used as a desired output, and CO2 emissions is used as one undesired output. The experimental results show that the 17 countries as a whole lacked eco-efficiency in 2013–2017, implying more efforts are required to improve their eco-efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability)
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18 pages, 4783 KiB  
Article
Multi-Angle Economic Analysis of Coal-Fired Units with Plasma Ignition and Oil Injection during Deep Peak Shaving in China
by Li Lin, Bingqian Xu and Shiwei Xia
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(24), 5399; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9245399 - 10 Dec 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2438
Abstract
What China committed in the Paris Agreement encourages the penetration of renewable energy in power grid. To consume more renewable energy, coal-fired units undertake the most part of peak shaving task and are usually operated at a low-load level during off-peak hours. However, [...] Read more.
What China committed in the Paris Agreement encourages the penetration of renewable energy in power grid. To consume more renewable energy, coal-fired units undertake the most part of peak shaving task and are usually operated at a low-load level during off-peak hours. However, deep peak shaving has harmed the benefits of thermal power plants and also brought about environmental problems. To improve the peak-shaving capacity and operation efficiency of coal-fired units, the government encourages the flexibility retrofits for coal-fired units. In this paper, peak-shaving related cost functions are proposed for the multi-angle economic analysis of coal-fired unit with plasma ignition (UPI) and oil injection (UOI), respectively. First, the operation characteristic is analyzed for three stages of peak shaving, and then the peak-shaving costs related to these three stages are proposed in terms of the coal consumption cost, wear-and-tear cost, combustion-supporting cost, and environmental cost. Afterwards, a peak-shaving cost-based economic dispatch model is presented with consideration of the curtailed wind penalty, and an environmental efficiency index is defined to evaluate the environmental benefits. Finally, in the case study, quantitative economy analysis is performed from the aspects of thermal power plants, wind power plants, and the environment separately, and the simulation results indicate that UPI has better peak-shaving economy and environmental efficiency than UOI. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methodologies for a Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Sustainability)
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