ENG794s1 Energy Management Economics and Risk Analysis
Roles of Circular Economy in Oil & Gas and Renewable Energy Industry
As circular economy can be deemed as the exact opposite of the linear economy, see Fig 1. The linear economy follows a simple and straight end-of-life concept, in which when a material or product has reached the end of its useful life, it is thrown away or disposed. The two severe consequences of adopting the take-use-dispose model are (i) the creation of a huge amount of waste at the end of each product lifecycle and (ii) the need of huge material extraction at the start of each product cycle. ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW
The concept of circular economy is based on a number of school of thoughts, including the frameworks of ecological sustainability and resource sustenance (Ghisellini et al., 2015). It was in 1989 when Pearce and Turner formally introduced the term of ‘circular economy’ and explained the shift from the traditional ‘open-loop system’ to the ‘closed-loop system’ (Pearce & Turner, 1989). The concept of the closed-loop system is fundamental to the understanding of circular economy. (Geng et al., 2014) explain that the industrial process should not directly interactive with the environment, that is, the environment should remain intact regardless of the manufacturing, disposal, or other industrial procures. In an open-loop system, this interaction between the industrial system and the environment cannot be avoided and as a result, there is always some degree of environmental deterioration involved. On the contrary, in a closed-loop system, as guided by the circular economy, all material waste, carbon waste (produced during the manufacturing process), and other undesired by-products are made part of the industrial system in a feedback or closed loop setting, so to isolate them from the environment (Chertow, 2007). Thus, in a more inclusive and globalized form, recycling of goods is just one element of circular economy (Geng et al., 2014), the rest being carbon waste efficiency, steam and heat reuse, and environmental sustenance in all the industrial procedures.
Now when it comes to the implementation of the circular economy, there are always some considerations. According to Andersen (2007), the decision of adopting a circular economy needs revaluation of the industrial outcomes. If revenues and speed of manufacturing are the only Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the manufacturing process and quality of the product, many companies would ignore the value of environmental restoration if no value is assigned to the factors of energy efficiency, carbon control strategies, and waste recycling (Mathews & Tan, 2011).
There have been a number of studies explaining the benefits and implementation of the circular economy model in the manufacturing industry (Kimura et al., 2001; Yuan et al., 2008). However, research and empirical evidence on a methodological and systematic transition remain scarce (Su et al., 2013). As Neubauer and Pesaran (2011) claim that while transiting from linear economy to the circular economy, some business procedures may remain unchanged, while some may change completely or ceased to exist. Thus, the systematic route is the essence of a successful transition as without knowing the what, when, and how of the circular economy, a business might fail in its transition process. The study by Vasilenko and Arbaciauskas (2012) was one of the studies shedding light on the internal and external barriers to circular economy; however, the discussion was quite succinct and did not present an inclusive review of the major obstacles that industries may or would face when adopting the circular economy model. ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW
REFERENCES
- Andersen, M., 2007. An introductory note on the environmental economics of the circular economy. Sustain. Sci., Volume 2, pp. 133- 140.
- Baxter, P. & Jack, S., 2008. Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), p. 544–559.
- Chan, F. & Chan, H., 2008. A survey on reverse logistics system of mobile phone industry in Hong Kong.Management Decision, 46(5), pp. 702-708.
- Chertow, M., 2007. Uncovering industrial symbiosis. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 11(1)
- Du, L., 2016. An overview of mobile capacitive touch technologies trends, s.l.: IEEE.
- Fisher, M., 2003. Plastics recycling. In: Plastics and the Environment. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Interscience, pp. 563-627.
- Geyer, R. & Blass, V., 2009. The economics of cell phone reuse and recycling. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 47(5), p. 515–525.
- Hellström, T., 2007. Dimensions of environmental sustainable innovation: the structure of eco-innovation concepts. Sustainable Development, 15(3), p. 148–159.
- Mao, P. & Kang, S., 2005. Building up a circular economy model with Chinese characteristics. Green Economy, Volume 4, p. 56–60.
- Robinson, B., 2009. E-waste: an assessment of global production and environmental impacts. Sci Total Environ, Volume 408, p. 183–191.
- Tech UK, 2015. The Circular Economy: A perspective from the technology sector., s.l.: s.n.
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Course work Description
Essay 1
The primary aim of this part of the course work is to explore the roles of energy in circular economy, on some fundamental factors such as economic, environmental & business impact, and other related challenges that inhibit or influence the adoption of the circular economy model in energy (Renewables or Oil & Gas) industries.
Write a paper on the topic allocated to you in Table 1 related to the impact of circular economy on Energy. Your essay could be a definition paper or an argumentative paper:
- A definition paperdescribes a topic from a factual standpoint that is usually devoid of emotion or the opinion of the author. Although the definition research paper will include facts from a variety of sources, this information is left unanalysed and contains only actual facts found in another’s research paper findings.
- An argumentative paperpresents two sides of a controversial issue. A good argumentative paper will include in-text citations that present logical facts from both sides of an issue, and will conclude with the author analysing the pros and cons of each argument. The author is expected to favour one side more than the other on an issue, but the research and analysis must be un-emotive and factual and include both sides of the argument.
Essay 2
Write a paper on the topic allocated to you in Table 1 relating the implantation of HSE (Health Safety and the Environment) Policy on the Management and Economics of this particular area.
Instructions
- Your papers should be 1000 words each. (This may include in-line citations).
- Provide citations for any text, data or ideas you use from other sources. Use in-line citations with full references at the end of your paper. The in-line citations are not to be counted as part of your word count, the references are not part of the word count. Please see Academic Integrity note at the end.
- Use a minimum of 10 academic references that are published not earlier than January 2015.
- At the master’s level, student research papers must have an introduction – at the very minimum. The introduction must set the context and also provide the reader with a structure of your paper or write up.
- It is expected that, the write up must flow logically/sequentially, don’t jump from one issue to the other and come back again to the earlier issues.
- You must clearly segment your response. Please do not write one long answer without clearly separating all the sub themes in your analysis.
- To improve your presentation and also let key points stand out, please use paragraphs effectively. Break your points into distinct stand-alone paragraphs so arguments stand out.