What do we mean by circular
Generally, circularity moves away from the traditional “take-make dispose” economic model to one that is regenerative by design. The goal is to retain as much value as possible from resources, products, parts and materials to create a system that allows for long life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling.
For the energy system, circularity means designing processes and solutions to extract, convert and use energy that maximizes the efficient use of resources. This includes not only the use of renewable energy resources, but also by-products of other processes – such as waste heat, flue gases, biomass, and municipal and industrial solid waste – as energy inputs. It’s also about optimizing the end use of energy, e.g. through controls, demand response, energy storage and energy efficient appliances or processes.
Circularity in the energy system also consists of designing and manufacturing assets to be reused, repaired, refurbished, remanufactured and recycled, minimizing idle time and environmental impacts across an asset’s life cycle.