IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v289y2021ics0306261921001963.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Circular economy for clean energy transitions: A new opportunity under the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Su, Chang
  • Urban, Frauke

Abstract

This paper models the energy and emissions scenarios for a circular economy based clean energy transitions in a 140,000-population town in China, taking into account the new situation encountered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The modelled scenarios propose new clean energy transition roadmaps towards a sustainable urban system through the implementation of circular economy strategies. This is represented by the cascading use of industrial excess heat to form symbiosis between factories and to cover the growing building heat demand, as well as by the electrification of the transport sector and reusing the batteries for a second life as energy storage devices. The results show that for a circular economy scenario, during 2020–2040, an accumulated saving of 7.1 Mtoe final energy use (34%), a decline in 14.5 Mt CO2 emissions (40%) and 592 t PM2.5 emissions (43%) could be achieved compared with the business-as-usual scenario. The outcomes of the circular economy strategies are at least 7% better than the new policy scenario which simply has energy efficiency improvements. The outbreak of the COVID-19 tremendously impacts the socio-economic activities in the town. If taking the pandemic as an opportunity to enhance the circular economy, by 2040, compared with the scenario without introducing circular economy measures, the extra avoided final energy use, CO2 emissions and PM2.5 emissions could be 1.6 Mtoe (8%), 3.8 Mt (11%) and 229 t (17%) respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Su, Chang & Urban, Frauke, 2021. "Circular economy for clean energy transitions: A new opportunity under the COVID-19 pandemic," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:289:y:2021:i:c:s0306261921001963
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261921001963
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116666?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad R. Altimania & Nadia A. Elsonbaty & Mohamed A. Enany & Mahmoud M. Gamil & Saeed Alzahrani & Musfer Hasan Alraddadi & Ruwaybih Alsulami & Mohammad Alhartomi & Moahd Alghuson & Fares Alatawi & , 2023. "Optimal Performance of Photovoltaic-Powered Water Pumping System," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Indre Siksnelyte-Butkiene, 2021. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic to the Sustainability of the Energy Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Manav Khanna & Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti & Marco Frey, 2022. "The Relevance of the Circular Economy for Climate Change: An Exploration through the Theory of Change Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Chang Su & Frauke Urban, 2021. "Carbon Neutral China by 2060: The Role of Clean Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Wadim Strielkowski & Lubomír Civín & Elena Tarkhanova & Manuela Tvaronavičienė & Yelena Petrenko, 2021. "Renewable Energy in the Sustainable Development of Electrical Power Sector: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Yongqin Niu, 2024. "Toward a greener energy transition: examining the effects of circular economy and carbon footprint for sustainable development," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-22, April.
    7. Wang Dongfang & Pablo Ponce & Zhang Yu & Katerine Ponce & Muhammad Tanveer, 2022. "The future of industry 4.0 and the circular economy in Chinese supply chain: In the Era of post-COVID-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 342-356, June.
    8. Khan, Khalid & Su, Chi Wei & Rehman, Ashfaq U. & Ullah, Rahman, 2022. "Is technological innovation a driver of renewable energy?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Dinçer, Hasan & Yüksel, Serhat & Hacioglu, Umit & Yilmaz, Mustafa K. & Delen, Dursun, 2023. "Development of a sustainable corporate social responsibility index for performance evaluation of the energy industry: A hybrid decision-making methodology," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    10. Çelik, İsmail & Sak, Ahmet Furkan & Höl, Arife Özdemir & Vergili, Gizem, 2022. "The dynamic connectedness and hedging opportunities of implied and realized volatility: Evidence from clean energy ETFs," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    11. Carlos Andrade & Sandrine Selosse, 2024. "Circular Economy for the Energy System as a Leverage for Low-Carbon Transition: Long-Term Analysis of the Case of the South-East Region of France," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Ilaria Marotta & Francesco Guarino & Sonia Longo & Maurizio Cellura, 2021. "Environmental Sustainability Approaches and Positive Energy Districts: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-45, November.
    13. Yugang He & Ziqian Zhang, 2022. "Energy and Economic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-13, September.
    14. Luiz Fernando Rodrigues Pinto & Henrricco Nieves Pujol Tucci & Giovanni Mummolo & Geraldo Cardoso de Oliveira Neto & Francesco Facchini, 2022. "Circular Economy Approach on Energy Cogeneration in Petroleum Refining," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, February.
    15. Shah, Muhammad Ibrahim & Foglia, Matteo & Shahzad, Umer & Fareed, Zeeshan, 2022. "Green innovation, resource price and carbon emissions during the COVID-19 times: New findings from wavelet local multiple correlation analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    16. Zhang, Hongwei & Hong, Huojun & Ding, Shijie, 2023. "The role of climate policy uncertainty on the long-term correlation between crude oil and clean energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    17. Huang, Shi-Zheng, 2022. "The effect of natural resources and economic factors on energy transition: New evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Costa, Vinicius B.F. & Pereira, Lígia C. & Andrade, Jorge V.B. & Bonatto, Benedito D., 2022. "Future assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the electricity market based on a stochastic socioeconomic model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    19. Lazo, Joaquín & Aguirre, Gerson & Watts, David, 2022. "An impact study of COVID-19 on the electricity sector: A comprehensive literature review and Ibero-American survey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    20. Danilo Boffa & Antonio Prencipe & Armando Papa & Christian Corsi & Mario Sorrentino, 2023. "Boosting circular economy via the b-corporation roads. The effect of the entrepreneurial culture and exogenous factors on sustainability performance," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 523-561, June.
    21. Jacek Artur Strojny & Michał Stanisław Chwastek & Elżbieta Badach & Sławomir Jacek Lisek & Piotr Kacorzyk, 2022. "Impacts of COVID-19 on Energy Expenditures of Local Self-Government Units in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-25, February.
    22. Wang, Mengxia & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Si Mohammed, Kamel & Cifuentes-Faura, Javier & Cai, Xiaotong, 2023. "Heterogenous Effects of Circular Economy, Green energy and Globalization on CO2 emissions: Policy based analysis for sustainable development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 789-801.
    23. Muhammad Shahid Mastoi & Hafiz Mudassir Munir & Shenxian Zhuang & Mannan Hassan & Muhammad Usman & Ahmad Alahmadi & Basem Alamri, 2022. "A Critical Analysis of the Impact of Pandemic on China’s Electricity Usage Patterns and the Global Development of Renewable Energy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-30, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:289:y:2021:i:c:s0306261921001963. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.