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The current linear economic system has led Europe to unsustainable development, aggravating several issues, such as climate change, limitation of resources, and pollution. As a sustainable alternative, circular economy (CE) has been promoted around the world. This economic system allows for the maximization of a product’s life, thus decreasing its environmental impact and increasing its value. The main goal of this work is to scrutinise the concepts of CE over time, from the beginning of the concept, to its implementation in Europe and its application in Portugal. In addition, the requirement for strategies that led to studies on regional urban metabolism are addressed. Another goal is to examine Portugal and see how the country is dealing with the implementation of strategies for CE, moving from concept to practice. This part of the work resulted in the creation of the REMET-UA model, a tool to assess the regional economic metabolism, which also has the potential to evaluate synergies of materials in terms of fluxes between regions, maximizing the amount of information available at this scale for municipalities and enterprises to be used, having taken into account the purpose of circular economy. The results showed that REMET-UA is fully operational and corresponds to the goal for which the model was made. Future developments have been identified and are underway to improve the model and bring it as close to reality as possible.
Afonso Silva; Bruno Augusto; Sandra Rafael; Johnny Reis; Myriam Lopes; Sérgio Costa; Carlos Borrego. Modelling of Regional Economic Metabolism. Climate 2020, 8, 52 .
AMA StyleAfonso Silva, Bruno Augusto, Sandra Rafael, Johnny Reis, Myriam Lopes, Sérgio Costa, Carlos Borrego. Modelling of Regional Economic Metabolism. Climate. 2020; 8 (4):52.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAfonso Silva; Bruno Augusto; Sandra Rafael; Johnny Reis; Myriam Lopes; Sérgio Costa; Carlos Borrego. 2020. "Modelling of Regional Economic Metabolism." Climate 8, no. 4: 52.
A linear economic model has proven to lead society into an unsustainable situation. Current policies have been promoting the transition for a circular economy across Europe. Portugal’s Action Plan for Circular Economy foresees the development of regional agendas, which include the characterization of regional economic metabolism. Taking resources inputs, extractions and imports into account, as well as the generated outputs, such as exports and emissions to the environment are a fundamental need for an efficient resources management. Indicators associated with regional economic metabolism allow the identification of inefficient use of natural resources and energy, and opportunities for circularity, which can promote new business models and investments. In this context and to fulfill the current need of evaluating the regional economic metabolism, this work describes the development of the REMET-UA (REgional METabolism) model. This model was developed to take into account the specificities of Portuguese regions, allowing an analysis with a high-resolution level.
Afonso Silva; Bruno Augusto; Sandra Rafael; Johnny Daniel Reis; Myriam Lopes; Sérgio Costa; Carlos Borrego. Analysis of regional economic metabolism through modeling. Energy Reports 2020, 6, 102 -107.
AMA StyleAfonso Silva, Bruno Augusto, Sandra Rafael, Johnny Daniel Reis, Myriam Lopes, Sérgio Costa, Carlos Borrego. Analysis of regional economic metabolism through modeling. Energy Reports. 2020; 6 ():102-107.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAfonso Silva; Bruno Augusto; Sandra Rafael; Johnny Daniel Reis; Myriam Lopes; Sérgio Costa; Carlos Borrego. 2020. "Analysis of regional economic metabolism through modeling." Energy Reports 6, no. : 102-107.