energies-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Circular Economy and Renewable Energy Technologies and Systems

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2020) | Viewed by 2536

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Energy Production Technology from Non-Conventional Sources, Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, GR-67100 Xanthi, Greece
Interests: renewable energy sources (RESs); renewable energy storage systems; hydrogen production and storage technologies; technologies for the use of hydrogen for the production of electricity; control and automation of hybrid power supply systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Business and Environmental Technology Economics Lab, Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 671 00 Xanthi, Greece
Interests: corporate environmental management; corporate sustainability; corporate social responsibility; business circular economy models; environmental economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Major environmental shifts such as climate change can be attributed to human activities. In socio-economic terms, the generation and consumption of required materials—energy, water, and land—produce emissions and waste, which are released back to the natural environment, causing a plethora of sequential implications.

As sustainable alternatives to conventional energy sources, a variety of renewable energy technologies and systems (RETS) have emerged, providing apparent advantages mainly during their operation, like reduced greenhouse gas emissions and waste products.

However, long-term environmental impacts, whether adverse or beneficial, should be studied in more depth, considering discrete time horizons and taking into account recent technological advances like the smart grid, the digitalization of the energy sector, higher recycling rates, and individual manufacturing and decommissioning processes.

In view of the above considerations, up-to-date cradle to cradle assessments are needed that allow the comparison of environmental impacts between different RETS from creation to disposal throughout the entire life span of materials. Inquiries which highlight the current strengths and weaknesses of the economies (industry, infrastructure, policy framework) dealing with the cradle-to-cradle of RETS are in demand. The formulation of public policies which ensure truly circular lifecycles is also vitally important for the creation of growth and job opportunities.

The proposed Special Issue will try to unify a series of research papers that discuss the various aspects of RETS concerning the use of circular economy principles in examining the sustainability of RETS, and register the currently available and developing techniques in the manufacturing and recycling of RETS.

More specifically, potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  1. The currently available and developing techniques in the manufacturing and recycling of RETS.
  2. The current environmental impact of RETS across the whole life cycle and cradle-to-cradle thinking.
  3. The current strengths and weaknesses of the EU economy (industry, infrastructure, policy framework) for dealing with the lifecycle of RETS.
  4. Public policies to ensure truly circular lifecycles of RETS, and opportunities for growth and jobs in the EU.

Dr. Costas Elmasides
Dr. Ioannis Nikolaou
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

  • renewable energy technologies and systems
  • life cycle assessment
  • environmental impact of RETS
  • circular economy
  • cradle-to-cradle thinking
  • reuse, recycle, remanufacture, and reduce

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 4381 KiB  
Article
Interval Optimization-Based Optimal Design of Distributed Energy Resource Systems under Uncertainties
by Da Li, Shijie Zhang and Yunhan Xiao
Energies 2020, 13(13), 3465; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13133465 - 4 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1997
Abstract
Distributed energy resource (DER) systems have elicited increasing attention and applications because of their excellent economic and environmental performance. However, uncertainties exist in such systems, preventing their potential advantages to be realized. In this study, an interval optimization-based model for the optimal design [...] Read more.
Distributed energy resource (DER) systems have elicited increasing attention and applications because of their excellent economic and environmental performance. However, uncertainties exist in such systems, preventing their potential advantages to be realized. In this study, an interval optimization-based model for the optimal design of DER systems is proposed, considering uncertainties in energy prices, renewable energy intensity, and load demands. Uncertainties are described as interval numbers, and the uncertain optimization model is transformed into a deterministic optimization problem using the order relationship and probability degree of interval numbers. The proposed model is applied to a typical hospital in Lianyungang, China, and its effectiveness is verified. One deterministic case and three uncertain cases are designed. The effects of uncertainties on system configuration and economic performance are also analyzed, and the optimal operation strategy under the three uncertainties is determined. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to analyze the effects of probability degree and weighting coefficient on total annual cost. Results show that uncertainties exert a cumulative effect on system optimization outcomes, and the proposed interval optimization model can obtain robust solutions to uncertainties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Renewable Energy Technologies and Systems)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop