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Circular economy isn’t so easy – but it can be done!

Panel: 2. Sustainable production design and supply chain initiatives

Authors:
Per Sommarin, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Built Environment/Energy and Circular Economy, Sweden
Martin Wänerholm, Swerea SWECAST, Sweden

Abstract

There are many businesses that may need supplements of heat such as greenhouses. There are also many industries that have cost to get rid of excess heat. How can these two help each other? New methods are needed to secure the world's food supply and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The aim of this paper is to show the potential for sustainable production of local food with functioning local logistics and the presented result is based on some conclusions from a project regarding ways to utilize industrial waste heat for local food production in greenhouses. The result shows that there is a great potential to reduce the carbon footprint from production of tomatoes by utilizing waste heat. The result also shows that the amount of industrial waste heat in Sweden would be more than enough to make the country self-sufficient in tomato production. Today, there are no developed technologies for utilizing low grade waste heat for heating greenhouses adapted to Swedish conditions.

A performed interview study indicates that the main barriers to realizing an exchange of waste heat are lack of knowledge regarding the available amount of waste heat, lack of continuous flows of waste heat and uncertainty regarding the design of an agreement for purchase/sales of waste heat. The main drivers are economic, but concern for future legislation on waste heat and social driving forces, such as creation of new job opportunities and a prosperous countryside, are also important. The majority of the identified barriers to waste heat exchange are associated with the collaboration between different parties. Therefore, it is important that these barriers are overcome by designing a waste heat agreement that is beneficial to both parties. The parts of the agreement that are crucial are the term of agreement, security of supply, allocation of costs and the price setting of the heat.

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