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Franco Ruzzenenti
Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, Netherlands

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Editorial article
Published: 10 September 2019 in Frontiers in Energy Research
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Editorial: The Rebound Effect and the Jevons' Paradox: Beyond the Conventional Wisdom

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; David Font Vivanco; Ray Galvin; Steve Sorrell; Aleksandra Wagner; Hans Jakob Walnum. Editorial: The Rebound Effect and the Jevons' Paradox: Beyond the Conventional Wisdom. Frontiers in Energy Research 2019, 7, 1 .

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, David Font Vivanco, Ray Galvin, Steve Sorrell, Aleksandra Wagner, Hans Jakob Walnum. Editorial: The Rebound Effect and the Jevons' Paradox: Beyond the Conventional Wisdom. Frontiers in Energy Research. 2019; 7 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; David Font Vivanco; Ray Galvin; Steve Sorrell; Aleksandra Wagner; Hans Jakob Walnum. 2019. "Editorial: The Rebound Effect and the Jevons' Paradox: Beyond the Conventional Wisdom." Frontiers in Energy Research 7, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 09 July 2019 in Sustainability
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The literature dedicated to the problems of transboundary pollution often aims to verify what the environmental and energy interactions between countries are. Little attention is paid to the financial relations of the phenomenon. We analyze how financial, environmental and energy flows have been redistributed within the main Mediterranean countries, with particular reference to pollution. Applying advanced methods of correlation, we verify the dynamics of transfer processes with the aim of assessing whether the link between economic and financial and environmental flows might support the hypothesis that rich countries export environmental emissions to poor ones. Our results show that richer countries have a significant propensity to export energy, financial flows and polluting emissions. The imbalance is even greater for emissions with local impact. This process is accompanied by a substantial increase in the financial activities of the North Mediterranean countries to the detriment of those of the South, which progressively increase their indebtedness. We find out that the economic and financial development of the North Med is accompanied by an increasing environmental impact measured by the various types of emissions covered by our study. The research shows how the most industrialized countries of the Mediterranean area are increasing the economic and financial gap with respect to the Southern Mediterranean countries.

ACS Style

Pietro Vozzella; Franco Ruzzenenti; Giampaolo Gabbi. Energy and Environmental Flows: Do Most Financialised Countries within the Mediterranean Area Export Unsustainability? Sustainability 2019, 11, 3736 .

AMA Style

Pietro Vozzella, Franco Ruzzenenti, Giampaolo Gabbi. Energy and Environmental Flows: Do Most Financialised Countries within the Mediterranean Area Export Unsustainability? Sustainability. 2019; 11 (13):3736.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pietro Vozzella; Franco Ruzzenenti; Giampaolo Gabbi. 2019. "Energy and Environmental Flows: Do Most Financialised Countries within the Mediterranean Area Export Unsustainability?" Sustainability 11, no. 13: 3736.

Chapter
Published: 03 May 2017 in Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions
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With more energy efficiency it is possible to do the same—or even more—with less energy. This is why energy efficiency is prompted by many as an absolute remedy for the evils of energy use, such as the environmental pressure or the security of supply. Nevertheless, historically energy consumptions at the world level have always been growing in spite of—or perhaps because of—an increasing level of energy efficiency. Some scholars have called this paradox the rebound effect. The rebound effect (REE) is an unintended consequence of the introduction of more energy-efficient technology. It occurs when the reduction in energy consumption is less than that expected from the magnitude of the increase in energy efficiency. REE and backfire are caused by behavioural and/or other systemic responses to efficiency gains in production or consumption (Maxwell et al. in Addressing the rebound effect, a report for the European Commission DG Environment, 2011). However, this paradoxical nexus between energy efficiency and energy consumption is not only confined to human-made systems: nature exhibits a same type of linkage among energy efficiency, energy growth and complexity. To what extent can the energetics of evolution help us in understanding this conundrum and forge a doable energy policy aimed at reducing energy use by fostering energy efficiency? In this chapter we will analyse current areas of improvement in energy policy targeting energy efficiency in the light of the rebound effect and we will try to advance a different policy framework, based on a deeper understanding of this phenomenon.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Paolo Bertoldi. Energy Conservation Policies in the Light of the Energetics of Evolution. Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions 2017, 147 -167.

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Paolo Bertoldi. Energy Conservation Policies in the Light of the Energetics of Evolution. Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions. 2017; ():147-167.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Paolo Bertoldi. 2017. "Energy Conservation Policies in the Light of the Energetics of Evolution." Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions , no. : 147-167.

Chapter
Published: 03 May 2017 in Green Energy and Technology
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The path toward a low-carbon economy takes three main parallel roads: the efficiency of energy conversion, the reduction of energy use and the substitution of fossil-fuels with renewable energy. This chapter will focus mainly on this latter aspect of the problem by analyzing how a transition toward renewable energy can pose a new challenge to economy and governance in terms of complexification of the system. The fate of renewable energy sources (RES) crucially depends on the power sector for electricity is still the main vector for renewable energy. The main features of the ongoing transition toward a renewable energy system are: (1) lower intensity of energy sources; (2) high efficiency of conversion; (3) temporal discontinuity; (4) free access to local and more decentralized energy sources; (5) dramatic change in the economic concept of energy scarcity; (6) new, leading role of the network. Is this process leading to a higher complexification? To answer to this question, we will analyze this energy transition in the light of the concept of complexity and sustainability by looking at the history of economic development and societal change prompted by new energy sources and new form of energy conversions. A particular emphasis will be given to the case study of Germany and recent thrust toward an energiewende. Finally, it will be advocated the need for a new market of power aimed at decoupling the sites of electricity inlet and outlet overcoming the impending limits of RES energy that curbs their development.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Brian D. Fath. Complexification in the Energiewende. Green Energy and Technology 2017, 28, 61 -80.

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Brian D. Fath. Complexification in the Energiewende. Green Energy and Technology. 2017; 28 ():61-80.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Brian D. Fath. 2017. "Complexification in the Energiewende." Green Energy and Technology 28, no. : 61-80.

Book chapter
Published: 03 May 2017 in Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions
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The concept of hierarchy is central to thermodynamics. Energy processes can be evaluated in terms of entropy content and the higher the entropy the lower they are positioned in the hierarchy of irreversibility. Hence, a Joule of heat at 500 K has a higher quality that the same amount of heat at 400 K. Introducing irreversibility into the Carnot machinery—the intellectual device by which we have historically developed the concept of efficiency, leads to the concept of maximum power output at suboptimal efficiency level. Introducing irreversibility—the hierarchal criterion for thermodynamics, means that time becomes a binding variable in thermal machines. Interestingly and perhaps not surprisingly, hierarchy is also a key concept of complexity. Along the line of an increasing hierarchical complexity, economic progress and evolution have been rewarding larger organizations or organisms throughout sentient or accidental selection. From microbes to whales, from villages to nations, from family firms to international corporations, the scaling up of the system has been achieved at the expenses of a growing complexity and hierarchy. To sustain the increasing complexity, processes have been increasing their power capacity thorough evolution and economic history. Is this intriguing parallel important to understand the fate of renewable energy? In this chapter I will try to expand upon the ideas of hierarchical scaling and power maximization to the problem of governing RES, with insights from finite-time thermodynamics, algometric scaling and complex science.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Nicola Labanca. Hierarchies, Power and the Problem of Governing Complex Systems. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2017, 85, 101 -118.

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Nicola Labanca. Hierarchies, Power and the Problem of Governing Complex Systems. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions. 2017; 85 ():101-118.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Nicola Labanca. 2017. "Hierarchies, Power and the Problem of Governing Complex Systems." Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 85, no. : 101-118.

Book chapter
Published: 03 May 2017 in Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions
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Metabolism refers to the process of energy and material flows required to sustain the structure of an organism, ecosystem, or socioeconomic system (such as an urban area). The study of energy metabolism of an economy is insightful on both a local scale (city, region, or country) and on a global scale (world economy). A key feature contributing to the complexity of socioecologic systems is feedback, manifest in the presence of cycles. Material cycles in ecological systems are closed: mass is conserved throughout all cyclic paths. Furthermore, the incoming solar energy is maximally dissipated throughout cycles. Ecological systems have developed intricate couplings in order to reduce or eliminate energy or material waste, in juxtaposition to economic systems. What makes then an economy so inefficient compared to nature? On a local scale, the study of metabolism indicates that cities or countries are not a self-sustaining systems: they draw materials, energy, and information from the surrounding ecological and economic environment. Cyclic metabolic paths in the world economy are typically strictly (anti)correlated to oil price. As showed in this chapter, the percentage of cycled material in trade was negatively correlated to oil price; this anti(correlation) scoring from 85 to 62% between 1960 and 2011. This shows that world metabolism is remarkably connected to the price of oil. In the long run, world metabolism is correlated to oil price because of the architecture of trading relationships. With low oil prices, the productive chain tends to unfold across countries, whereas with high oil prices the productive chain tends to shrink. Constraints and impediments to the complete success of renewable energy sources (RES) over fossil fuels are therefore based on certain factors which can be determined from a metabolic analysis of the economy: (1) energy source intensity, (2) the nonfungibility of oil in the transport sector, and (3) scale of production. Each factor raises particular questions which will be answered in this chapter. For example: Is the scale of the present economy/society (cities, countries, or world) strictly dependent on the intensity of fossil fuels? Can these scales of processes be sustained with energy sources at a lower intensity? What is the appropriate feedback between the scale of ecosystem services and scale of governance? Is circular economy attainable at the scale of the present global economy? These questions will be addressed in the light of energy metabolism.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Brian D. Fath. Present Energy Metabolism and the Future of Renewables. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2017, 42, 81 -100.

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Brian D. Fath. Present Energy Metabolism and the Future of Renewables. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions. 2017; 42 ():81-100.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Brian D. Fath. 2017. "Present Energy Metabolism and the Future of Renewables." Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 42, no. : 81-100.

Research article
Published: 16 September 2015 in PLOS ONE
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We analysed a multiplex of financial and environmental networks between OECD countries from 2002 to 2010. Foreign direct investments and portfolio investment showing the flows in equity securities, short-term, long-term and total debt, these securities represent the financial layers; emissions of NOx, PM10, SO2, CO2equivalent and the water footprint associated with international trade represent the environmental layers. We present a new measure of cross-layer correlations between flows in different layers based on reciprocity. For the assessment of results, we implement a null model for this measure based on the exponential random graph theory. We find that short-term financial flows are more correlated with environmental flows than long-term investments. Moreover, the correlations between reverse financial and environmental flows (i.e. the flows of different layers going in opposite directions) are generally stronger than correlations between synergic flows (flows going in the same direction). This suggests a trade-off between financial and environmental layers, where, more financialised countries display higher correlations between outgoing financial flows and incoming environmental flows than from lower financialised countries. Five countries are identified as hubs in this finance-environment multiplex: The United States, France, Germany, Belgium-Luxembourg and United Kingdom.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Andreas Joseph; Elisa Ticci; Pietro Vozzella; Giampaolo Gabbi. Interactions between Financial and Environmental Networks in OECD Countries. PLOS ONE 2015, 10, e0136767 .

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Andreas Joseph, Elisa Ticci, Pietro Vozzella, Giampaolo Gabbi. Interactions between Financial and Environmental Networks in OECD Countries. PLOS ONE. 2015; 10 (9):e0136767.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Andreas Joseph; Elisa Ticci; Pietro Vozzella; Giampaolo Gabbi. 2015. "Interactions between Financial and Environmental Networks in OECD Countries." PLOS ONE 10, no. 9: e0136767.

Book chapter
Published: 06 February 2015 in Energy Security and Development
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The rebound effect (RE) is an unintended increase in energy usage due to the introduction of an energy-efficient technology and the consequential lower price of the relative energy service (brief intro to the idea helpful). The RE arguably poses serious threats to the ongoing energy conservation and GHG-mitigating policies. This alarming issue is now widely recognized by the scientific community. Last year the European Commission (DG environmental unit C2) commissioned, for the first time, a study on the RE, acknowledging the need of approaching this problem and urging more research on this important topic. Current modeling methodologies of the RE are time- and space limited. In this chapter we show that there are structural changes in the economy, occurring on a long range of time and concerning the whole productive structure, that are energy demanding. We approach structural changes with network theory and statistical mechanics of networks to show to what extent they can be regarded as an increase in complexity of transport systems. We analyze these changes in the light of economic growth theory and more broadly, of growth theory of metabolic processes. We finally advanced a heuristic explanation of structural changes based on saturation and symmetry breaking.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Francesco Picciolo; Riccardo Basosi. Rebound Effect and Structural Change. Energy Security and Development 2015, 261 -270.

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Francesco Picciolo, Riccardo Basosi. Rebound Effect and Structural Change. Energy Security and Development. 2015; ():261-270.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Francesco Picciolo; Riccardo Basosi. 2015. "Rebound Effect and Structural Change." Energy Security and Development , no. : 261-270.

Article
Published: 12 December 2012 in Physical Review E
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Spatially embedded networks are shaped by a combination of purely topological (space-independent) and space-dependent formation rules. While it is quite easy to artificially generate networks where the relative importance of these two factors can be varied arbitrarily, it is much more difficult to disentangle these two architectural effects in real networks. Here we propose a solution to this problem, by introducing global and local measures of spatial effects that, through a comparison with adequate null models, effectively filter out the spurious contribution of nonspatial constraints. Our filtering allows us to consistently compare different embedded networks or different historical snapshots of the same network. As a challenging application we analyze the World Trade Web, whose topology is known to depend on geographic distances but is also strongly determined by nonspatial constraints (degree sequence or gross domestic product). Remarkably, we are able to detect weak but significant spatial effects both locally and globally in the network, showing that our method succeeds in retrieving spatial information even when nonspatial factors dominate. We finally relate our results to the economic literature on gravity models and trade globalization. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.066110 9 More Received 16 July 2012Revised 17 October 2012Published 12 December 2012©2012 American Physical Society

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Francesco Picciolo; Riccardo Basosi; Diego Garlaschelli. Spatial effects in real networks: Measures, null models, and applications. Physical Review E 2012, 86, 066110 .

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Francesco Picciolo, Riccardo Basosi, Diego Garlaschelli. Spatial effects in real networks: Measures, null models, and applications. Physical Review E. 2012; 86 (6):066110.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Francesco Picciolo; Riccardo Basosi; Diego Garlaschelli. 2012. "Spatial effects in real networks: Measures, null models, and applications." Physical Review E 86, no. 6: 066110.

Journal article
Published: 27 September 2010 in Symmetry
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We exploit the symmetry concepts developed in the companion review of this article to introduce a stochastic version of link reversal symmetry, which leads to an improved understanding of the reciprocity of directed networks. We apply our formalism to the international trade network and show that a strong embedding in economic space determines particular symmetries of the network, while the observed evolution of reciprocity is consistent with a symmetry breaking taking place in production space. Our results show that networks can be strongly affected by symmetry-breaking phenomena occurring in embedding spaces, and that stochastic network symmetries can successfully suggest, or rule out, possible underlying mechanisms.

ACS Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Diego Garlaschelli; Riccardo Basosi. Complex Networks and Symmetry II: Reciprocity and Evolution of World Trade. Symmetry 2010, 2, 1710 -1744.

AMA Style

Franco Ruzzenenti, Diego Garlaschelli, Riccardo Basosi. Complex Networks and Symmetry II: Reciprocity and Evolution of World Trade. Symmetry. 2010; 2 (3):1710-1744.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Franco Ruzzenenti; Diego Garlaschelli; Riccardo Basosi. 2010. "Complex Networks and Symmetry II: Reciprocity and Evolution of World Trade." Symmetry 2, no. 3: 1710-1744.

Review
Published: 27 September 2010 in Symmetry
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In this review we establish various connections between complex networks and symmetry. While special types of symmetries (e.g., automorphisms) are studied in detail within discrete mathematics for particular classes of deterministic graphs, the analysis of more general symmetries in real complex networks is far less developed. We argue that real networks, as any entity characterized by imperfections or errors, necessarily require a stochastic notion of invariance. We therefore propose a definition of stochastic symmetry based on graph ensembles and use it to review the main results of network theory from an unusual perspective. The results discussed here and in a companion paper show that stochastic symmetry highlights the most informative topological properties of real networks, even in noisy situations unaccessible to exact techniques.

ACS Style

Diego Garlaschelli; Franco Ruzzenenti; Riccardo Basosi. Complex Networks and Symmetry I: A Review. Symmetry 2010, 2, 1683 -1709.

AMA Style

Diego Garlaschelli, Franco Ruzzenenti, Riccardo Basosi. Complex Networks and Symmetry I: A Review. Symmetry. 2010; 2 (3):1683-1709.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Diego Garlaschelli; Franco Ruzzenenti; Riccardo Basosi. 2010. "Complex Networks and Symmetry I: A Review." Symmetry 2, no. 3: 1683-1709.