• Energy Research
• Embargo close
• IT close
• NL close
• FR close
• DK close

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is recognized as an effective practice to support circular economy and sustainable development because it is able to enhance the technical efficiency of production processes, provided IS relationships among companies remain active over the long period. However, although it has been established that IS relationships can be vulnerable to disruptive events that reduce the willingness of companies to cooperate in IS synergies, to date few contributions to the literature focus attention on the events which lead firms to interrupt IS synergies. This paper contributes to the existing literature firstly by highlighting the disruptive events affecting the willingness of companies to cooperate in IS synergies and their causes, and secondly by developing an analytical model to assess the impact of each disruption on physical and monetary flows created among companies by the IS relationship. Specifically, an enterprise input-output (EIO) model is proposed, aimed at mapping the physical and monetary flows resulting from IS synergies among companies. Through this model, disruptive events can be modeled and their impact on the above-mentioned flows can be assessed. A numerical case example illustrates how the model works and how company managers and IS facilitators could use it to evaluate to what degree their current IS relationships may be vulnerable to perturbations. The model could therefore facilitate the design of adequate countermeasures and contribute to the development of perturbation resilient IS relationships. Furthermore, policymakers could adopt the model when designing policy actions to support IS practice.

Synopsis The biological structures that fill the environment around us are derived from materials produced by organisms. These biological materials are key to the mechanical function of organisms. The pathways and growth processes that produce biological materials can influence the mechanical properties of the materials, which can in turn shape the higher level function of the system into which the materials are incorporated. Characterizing a biological system requires thorough knowledge of the underlying materials, including their mechanical function, diversity, evolution, and sensitivity to the environment. Anthropogenic activity is driving rapid and widespread changes to the natural environment and global climate, which are influencing organismal growth and physiology in myriad ways. Here, we briefly introduce a collection of articles that focus on the intersection of anthropogenic activity and the mechanical function of biological materials, as part of the “Global Change in a Material World” bundle for Integrative and Comparative Biology. In addition, we provide an analysis of the current scientific literature in this field, highlighting an urgent need to better understand how changes to our world, driven by human activity, are influencing the fundamental architecture and mechanical performance of organisms across the globe.

The optical and photovoltaic properties of Si NCs / SiC multilayers (MLs) are investigated using a membrane-based solar cell structure. By removing the Si substrate in the active cell area, the MLs are studied without any bulk Si substrate contribution. The occurrence is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and light-beam induced current mapping . Optical characterization combined with simulations allows us to determine the absorption within the ML absorber layer, isolated from the other cell stack layers. The results indicate that the absorption at wavelengths longer than 800 nm is only due to the SiC matrix. The measured short-circuit current is significantly lower than that theoretically obtained from absorption within the ML absorber, which is ascribed to losses that limit carrier extraction. The origin of these losses is discussed in terms of the material regions where recombination takes place. Our results indicate that carrier extraction is most efficient from the Si NCs themselves, whereas recombination is strongest in SiC and residual a-Si domains . Together with the observed onset of the external quantum efficiency (EQE) at 700-800 nm, this fact is an evidence of quantum confinement in Si NCs embedded in SiC on device level.

The production of charcoal for its many uses requires a careful selection of biomass and pyrolysis conditions, especially temperature, to ensure suitable quality. To do so, physical, chemical, and mechanical energy must be considered. This study aimed to analyze the yields and properties of charcoal produced at different pyrolysis temperatures. Eucalyptus saligna wood was pyrolyzed in a reactor with final temperatures of 450, 550, 650, 750, 850 and 950 °C. The yields of charcoal, pyroligneous liquid and non-condensable gases were determined. Mass loss was determined for each temperature. Charcoal analysis included the determination of the apparent density, proximate analysis, heating value, mechanical strength, X-ray images for the internal visualization of its structure and hygroscopicity test. Relevant charcoal properties for the steel industry and barbecue, such as density, mechanical strength, heating value and hygroscopicity, show variable trends from pyrolysis at 650 °C. The results show that pyrolysis temperature had a great impact on the properties of charcoal. The apparent density of charcoal rose from 500 °C and had no relation to the breaking strength. When the pyrolysis temperature was raised, an increase in both apparent and true densities, internal fissures and cracks and fixed carbon content of charcoal was observed.

In many industries, an increasing number of firm owners tie managers’ incentives to sustainability investments. Positive rewards directly increase a manager's total pay when that manager makes sustainability investments, whereas negative rewards directly decrease a manager's pay when those investments are made. Strategic incentive design literature posits that such organizational choices also affect the decisions of a firm's competitors. This paper uses a game-theoretic framework to analyze the effects of sustainability incentives in a setting with two competing firms. In contrast to the existing literature, in the current paper sustainability investments have a demand-enhancing effect and can increase or decrease the unit cost of production, making the current framework more in line with industrial practice. The results show that a firm invests in sustainability only if the demand-enhancing effects outweigh the cost-increasing effects. More importantly, positively rewarding managers for sustainability investments is done in equilibrium only if the innovation capability of the firm is sufficiently high. However, in terms of profits, those positive rewards lead to a prisoner's dilemma. When innovation capability is lower, firm owners use negative rewards and raise their profits. Another finding is that rival firms that cooperate in determining their sustainability incentives increase their profits but do so using negative rewards. These results, which have not been reported in the literature, point to some critical trade-offs in terms of sustainability investments and firm profits when sustainability incentives are considered and are both managerially and academically relevant.

Railway is currently envisioned as the most promising transportation system for both people and freight to reduce atmospheric emission and combat climate change. In this context, ensuring the energy efficiency of the railway systems is paramount in order to sustain their future expandability with minimum carbon footprint. Recent advancements in computing and communication technologies are expected to play a significant role to enable novel integrated control and management strategies in which heterogeneous data is exploited to noticeably increase energy efficiency. In this paper we focus on exploiting the convergence of heterogeneous information to improve energy efficiency of railway systems, in particular on the heating system for the railroad switches, one of the major energy intensive components. To this aim, we define new policies to efficiently manage the heating of these switches exploiting also external information such as weather and forecast data. In order to assess the performance of each strategy, a stochastic model representing the structure and operation of the railroad switch heating system and environmental conditions (both weather profiles and specific failure events) has been developed and exercised in a variety of representative scenarios. The obtained results allow to understand both strengths and limitations of each energy management policy, and serves as a useful support to make the choice of the best technique to employ to save on energy consumption, given the system conditions at hand.

Electrical energy production from renewable energy sources and electrification of consumer energy demand are developments in the ongoing energy transition. These developments urge the demand for flexibility in low voltage distribution networks, on the one hand caused by the intermittency of renewable energy sources, and on the other hand by the high power demand of battery electric vehicles and heat pumps. One of the foremost ways to create flexibility is by using energy storage systems. This paper proposes a method to first optimize the siting, power and capacity rating, technology, and operation of energy storage systems based on the technical and economic value. Secondly the method can be used to make cost- and time-based network planning decisions between network upgrades and network upgrade deferral by energy storage systems. To demonstrate the proposed method, study cases are analyzed of five low voltage distribution networks with different penetrations of photovoltaics, heat pumps and battery electric vehicles. The optimal energy storage systems in the study cases are: flow batteries sited at over 50% of the cable length with a high capacity rating per euro. With the current state of energy storage system development, network upgrade deferral is up to 61% cheaper than network upgrades in the study cases. The energy storage systems can offer additional value by reducing the peak loading of the medium voltage grid which is not taken into account in this research.