Innovative materials and energy efficiency

1. Insulation materials, such as spray foam insulation or rigid foam boards, can help reduce heat loss and improve the energy efficiency of buildings.

2. Low-emissivity (Low-E) glass is designed to reflect heat back into the building, reducing the amount of heat lost through windows and improving energy efficiency.

3. Reflective roofing materials, such as cool roofs, reflect sunlight and reduce heat absorption, which can help reduce the cooling load of buildings.

4. Phase-change materials can be used in walls, ceilings, or floors to absorb and release heat, reducing the need for heating and cooling.

5. Dynamic glazing is a type of smart glass that can change its tint or transparency in response to light or heat changes, reducing the energy needed for heating and cooling. Innovative materials like these can help significantly improve buildings’ energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. However, it’s important to consider factors such as cost, availability, and suitability for the specific building and climate before selecting and implementing any innovative material. 

Circular Economy: Four concepts to manage waste efficiently

A circular economy focuses on reducing wastage and pollution with repair, reuse and reduction. In addition, it also emphasizes restoring natural systems while creating conditions for supporting regeneration. Therefore these concepts of the circular economy can leverage the process of efficient waste management. 

Reverse Logistics for environmental sustenance 

In traditional supply chain management, the product reaches the end consumer through factories, distributors and retailers. In reverse logistics, the cycle starts from the consumer and arrives back at the manufacturer.  Here the company decides whether to refurbish the product for resale or recycle it by following the best practices. Reverse logistics focuses on the principle of designing and developing their products so that they produce minimum waste. The activities include material harvesting, repackaging, reusing and recycling that efficiently reduce a company’s wastage and support the course of circular economics. The idea of this concept is to maintain the product green at the end of its life cycle. 

Recycling in an environmentally feasible way

Circular economy initiates the reduction of pollution and the extraction of raw materials. Supporting the cause is the methodology of recycling efficiently so that the environment is not depleted by industrial waste. Either the e-waste can be transformed into secondary raw material and then used to build other products, or the idea of biomimicry can be put into action. In the process of biomimicry, solutions can come up to synthesize the wastage with the multidisciplinary approach of biology, chemistry and engineering. As companies take inspiration from nature while designing their products, they can also use the same provocations to recycle them efficiently. 

Engaging the community in acknowledging the waste

It is not only the role of the enterprises to deal with e-waste. Consumers must also come forward to understand the environmental devastation this issue is responsible for. They must be aware of the core concepts of the circular economy and measures that can be taken to dispose of waste. Ideally, community-based fabrication spaces can cater to the needs of acknowledging obsolescence. In addition, these spaces can promote equipment sharing among peers to reduce the usage of consumer products. Also, fewer products can be repaired, and components can be reused with other products to retain their functionality. The demand for these products facilitates overproduction, therefore, the idea to consume less can also be taken into account. 

Utilizing emerging technologies

There is a need to enhance the circular economy in a digital and strategic manner. As companies become more technologically mature, the need to add multiple hardware faces a significant decline. Companies using cloud services and DaaS (Desktop-as-a-Service) not only reduce the physical equipment but also diminish the generation of e-waste. Also, companies forming joint ventures with waste management companies can assure the product cycle ends in a sustainable manner. Market experts believe that innovations in these new technologies can deliberately reduce the demand for bulky products, and efficient use of hi-tech equipment will arise in the market that will be designed in a sustainable manner that can be reused, recycled or reduced. 

Final Thoughts

In a circular economy, there are two cycles to consider: the biological cycle and the technological cycle. Companies should develop their products in such a way that the biological material of the products undergoes biological degradation, and the other raw materials like metals, plastics or glass could be reused or remanufactured. The collective role of these four concepts of circular economy is to regenerate natural procedures, reduce e-waste and manage pollution. Today, management of wastage is a necessity, considering the adverse effects of consumption. Switching to renewables at a faster pace is now the need of the hour. However, this can only be achieved with the collaborative efforts of government policymakers, industry experts and the community.

Energy communities

Energy communities organise collective and citizen-driven energy actions that will help pave the way for a clean energy transition while moving citizens to the fore. They contribute to increasing public acceptance of renewable energy projects and make it easier to attract private investments in the clean energy transition. At the same time, they have the potential to provide direct benefits to citizens by advancing energy efficiency and lowering their electricity bills.

By supporting citizen participation, energy communities can moreover help in providing flexibility to the electricity system through demand-response and storage.  

Citizens and renewable energy communities

Through the Clean Energy for all Europeans package, the EU has introduced the concept of energy communities in its legislation, notably as citizen energy communities and renewable energy communities.

More specifically, the Directive on common rules for the internal electricity market (EU) 2019/944) includes new rules that enable active consumer participation, individually or through citizen energy communities, in all markets, either by generating, consuming, sharing or selling electricity or by providing flexibility services through demand-response and storage.  The directive aims to improve the uptake of energy communities and make it easier for citizens to integrate efficiently into the electricity system, as active participants.

In addition, the revised Renewable energy directive (2018/2001/EU) aims to strengthen the role of renewables self-consumers and renewable energy communities. EU countries should therefore ensure that they can participate in available support schemes, on equal footing with large participants.

Empowering renewable energy communities to produce, consume, store and sell renewable energy will also help advance energy efficiency in households, support the use of renewable energy and at the same time contribute to fighting poverty through reduced energy consumption and lower supply tariffs.

Re-organising the energy system

Energy communities offer a means to re-structure our energy systems by harnessing the energy and allowing citizens to participate actively in the energy transition and thereby enjoy greater benefits.

Energy communities can take any form of a legal entity, for instance, that of an association, a cooperative, a partnership, a non-profit organisation or a small/medium-sized enterprise. It makes it easier for its citizens, together with other market players, to team up and jointly invest in energy assets. This, in turn, helps contribute to a more decarbonised and flexible energy system, as the energy communities can act as one entity and access all suitable energy markets, on a level playing field with other market actors.

(Source: European Commission)