Renewable Energy In Circular Economy

The book provides a comprehensive overview of the technologies and processes involved in renewable energy generation, with a specific focus on their role in improving the circular economy. It offers all the necessary information and tools to help readers select the most sustainable renewable energy solution for different conditions. Exploring real-life examples, the book delves into the practical applications of the circular economy in the renewable energy sector. It takes a multi-faceted approach, examining the circular economy from various perspectives and incorporating methods such as lifecycle assessment, sustainability assessment, multi-criteria decision-making, and multi-objective optimization modes. Furthermore, the book explores the concept of blockchain, hybrid renewable energy models, technologies, and implementation. It also investigates the critical factors and key enablers that influence sustainable development in this field. By doing so, it not only facilitates the transition to a circular economy but also highlights the shift in recent research, trends, and attitudes towards a more scientifically grounded approach. The primary objective of this book is to compile research specifically focused on the circular economy in renewable energy. By providing researchers and policymakers in the energy sector with the necessary scientific methodology and metrics, it enables the development of strategies for a sustainable transition. This book serves as a valuable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners seeking to deepen their understanding of energy planning and the current and future trends of biofuel as an alternative fuel.

This book explores the role of renewable energy sources in driving sustainable development, with a focus on their circular use in achieving environmental efficiency and an energy balance. The authors highlights the significance of renewable energy in reducing costs for producers and consumers while also ensuring the production of clean energy that can be integrated seamlessly into the national power grid without compromising reliability or energy security. Readers are introduced to the circular economy model and its importance in the context of renewable energy. The book sheds light on the challenges associated with transitioning to alternative energy systems, particularly in cases where not all resources can be fully circulated. Through the research presented in this book, stakeholders will gain insights into how the sustainable renewable energy supply chain can be adapted within the circular economy. This will have a synergistic effect in reducing carbon emissions, and also aid in the production of renewable energy equipment.

This book addresses the needs of students, researchers, as well as engineers and other professionals or readers interested in recent advances of biofuel and efficient waste management. In the context of energy consumption, over 85% of the total consumed energy comes from non-renewable fossil resources. Developing new renewable energy resources, especially biofuel production from wastes, has received increasing attention. The book is organized into three sections, namely Section I: Conventional waste management; Section II: From waste to green energy; and Section III: Case studies and future perspectives. Each section presents topic-specific chapters, which contain comprehensive and advanced knowledge of the subjects. Overall, the book covers the recent advances, breakthroughs, challenges, and future perspectives of waste-to-energy approach using different kinds of wastes as a feedstock for alternative biofuels and other integrated approaches such as wastewater treatment, plastic degradation, and CO2 sequestration in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way. In addition, different routes of waste recycling for enhanced biofuel production and case studies are presented with environmental and economic analysis. The presented case studies and future perspectives under Section III complement the chapters as they are authored by experts from bioenergy businesses who actually encounter real-world problems.

This handbook discusses the latest developments in biorefinery technologies for waste-to-energy conversion. The growing global population and the accompanying increase in consumption and waste production make it urgent to find the best possible use of our resources. A sustainable waste management under the biorefinery concept has great potential to support a sustainable circular economy and green energy production. This handbook is divided into four parts. First, the reader is introduced to the fundamentals and recent trends of waste-to-energy technologies. The second part describes in detail the current status, challenges, and potential of the different feedstocks used for waste-to-energy conversion. Here, municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, oils and greases generated during food preparation, industrial wastewaters, and agricultural wastes, to name a few, are introduced. In the third part, numerous waste-to-energy technologies are discussed in detail, including anaerobic digestion, composting, gasification, plasma technology, thermal cracking, and others. Advantages and optimization potentials of these technologies for efficient residue management, quality and yield are highlighted. Finally, the handbook discusses social, environmental and economic aspects of waste-to-energy biorefinery technologies. Readers will learn more about the major bottlenecks and solutions in bioenergy commercialization, the logistics of biomass supply and the carbon footprint of waste biorefineries. The ideas and technologies presented in this book contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of "Affordable and Clean Energy". This book is a useful reference for postgraduate students and researchers interested in biorefinery and biofuel technologies, both in academia- and commercial laboratories. Early career scientists can use it to fast track into the field. Advanced scientists will find it helpful in gaining a broader overview of the field beyond their area of specialization.

The concept of circular economy is based on strategies, practices, policies, and technologies to achieve principles related to reusing, recycling, redesigning, repurposing, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recovering water, waste materials, and nutrients to preserve natural resources. It provides the necessary conditions to encourage economic and social actors to adopt strategies toward sustainability. However, the increasing complexity of sustainability aspects means that traditional engineering and management/economics alone cannot face the new challenes and reach the appropriate solutions. Thus, this book highlights the role of engineering and management in building a sustainable society by developing a circular economy that establishes and protects strong social and cultural structures based on cross-disciplinary knowledge and diverse skills. It includes theoretical justification, research studies, and case studies to provide researchers, practitioners, professionals, and policymakers the appropriate context to work together in promoting sustainability and circular economy thinking. Volume 1, Circular Economy and Sustainability: Management and Policy, discusses the content of circular economy principles and how they can be realized in the fields of economy, management, and policy. It gives an outline of the current status and perception of circular economy at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels to provide a better understanding of its role to achieve sustainability. Volume 2, Circular Economy and Sustainability: Environmental Engineering, presents various technological and developmental tolls that emphasize the implementation of these principles in practice (micro-level). It demonstrates the necessity to establish a fundamental connection between sustainable engineering and circular economy. Presents a novel approach linking circular economy concept to environmental engineering and management to promote sustainability goals in modern societies Approaches the topic of production and consumption at both the micro- and macro-levels, integrating principles with practice Offers a range of theoretical and foundational knowledge in addition to case studies that demonstrate the potential impact of circular economy principles on economic and societal progress

Energy policies play a pivotal part in helping countries achieve their sustainable development goals. Further, energy is one of the critical raw materials in companies’ production processes. Therefore, ensuring a steady energy supply is essential to increasing production; otherwise, countries will inevitably slide into recession. In this context, countries should select their energy policies on the basis of a comprehensive analysis. In order to achieve this goal, many different factors must be considered at the same time. The aim of this book is to determine the right energy policies for the sustainable economic development of countries. In this framework, effective strategies for different types of energy will be presented and vital issues such as determining the right locations for nuclear power plants, providing optimal government incentives to increase clean energy investments, and determining appropriate energy policies to reduce energy dependence will be examined. Thus, country-specific optimal energy policies will be outlined, contributing to the achievement of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG).

This book highlights the concepts, issues and policies related to the circular economy. The chapters of this book are designed to include the theoretical approach to the green circular economy, sustainable supply chain and challenges in the green circular economy. The book is a step towards designing sustainable circular economy embedded production and management practices. This book also addresses the capability of green-lean productions and a circular economy to improve resource efficiency and address environmental sustainability issues. Environmental sustainability is a hot topic in politics, science, and industry. There is a need to achieve economic, social, and environmental sustainability goals through adaptations of the green circular economy, which can help minimize greenhouse gas emissions, toxic pollutant releases, waste and energy and resource usage by employing renewable energy concepts and recyclable materials. The production processes must be resource-efficient and environmentally friendly, including green-lean manufacturing. Adopting a circular economy in manufacturing is less evident than green-lean management. However, systematic strategies to bridge this gap have yet to be devised. There is an urgent need to fully explore the Circular Economy concept to attain resource and environmental goals for the sustainability of the environment in the present era of global climate change. Its framework's powerful strategies need to solve the problem created by linear economic growth through industrialization and gross economic growth. There is a need to improve the sustainability management capabilities in the manufacturing and industrial sector to support the circular economy and a need to examine the impact of green human resource management. This book proposes the combined approach of green-lean solutions and a green circular economy. Through this book, we try to produce the content and information in a compiled form to give the audience an understanding of the circular economy concept framework and challenges.