WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development
Print ISSN: 1790-5079, E-ISSN: 2224-3496
Volume 15, 2019
The Impact of Circular Economy Indicators on the Gross Inland Consumption of the Energy of the European Union
Authors: , , ,
Abstract: The development of the economy and society is strongly influenced by the intensive use of available natural resources that directly affect the environment. The European Commission envisages a transition from the current economy, characterized by linearity, in the direction of a circular economy. To assess the impact of the circular economy on the growth dynamics of the European Union economy, it is necessary to choose indicators. The European Union decided to use indicators of a circular economy, divided into the following four thematic areas: production and consumption, waste management, secondary raw materials; competitiveness and innovation. The transition to a circular economy affects EU industry performance. In this regard, in this article we consider the impact of the indicators of the circular economy on the gross domestic energy consumption of the European Union. In this study, we estimate the effect of circular economy indicators on gross domestic energy consumption. The purpose of these studies was to identify indicators of the circular economy, which have the greatest impact on the gross domestic energy consumption of the European Union. The study was conducted using the Statgraphics Centurion software package. The initial data for the study were data from the official Eurostat website for the period from 2007 to 2016. As a dependent indicator was taken gross inland consumption of the energy, factor signs were generation of municipal waste per capita, domestic material consumption per capita, resource productivity, recycling of biowaste, recycling rate of packaging waste by type of packaging, recycling rate of municipal waste, generation of waste excluding major mineral wastes. The results of this study show that changes in the generation of municipal waste have a significant positive effect on gross domestic energy consumption in the EU in the period 2007-2016. Most likely this may be due to the development of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technologies. WtE technologies are increasingly presented as an attractive option to solve not only the pressing waste disposal problems but several other challenges simultaneously: shortages in power generation, limited space for landfills, and greenhouse gas emissions from inappropriate waste disposal. However, the introduction of WtE technologies is often jeopardized by common obstacles such as missing tariff systems to fund investments and operation costs, weak enforcement of environmental laws and limited qualified staff to run the installed systems in an efficient and effective manner.
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Keywords: circular economy, European Union, multiple regression, consumption, energy, generation of municipal waste
Pages: 32-45
WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development, ISSN / E-ISSN: 1790-5079 / 2224-3496, Volume 15, 2019, Art. #4