Energy Management in Hubs for Circularity
PhD candidate: Tobias Løvebakke Nielsen
Hubs for Circularity (H4C) are integrated systems where companies share waste streams and renewable energy to use resources more efficiently within a region. While the concept is promising, little research has examined how renewable energy and waste sharing actually work together in practice, and the relationship is not straightforward. Renewable energy is weather-dependent and fluctuates, which introduces uncertainty. Waste sharing requires coordination across multiple companies and actors. Do these two characteristics clash, or can they be managed in a way that makes them mutually reinforcing?
In my PhD, I use operational research to study this relationship. By developing and applying energy management models to four real-world H4Cs from the IS2H4C project with various technologies, industries and collaboration structures, I aim to generate insights into how future hubs can be designed to support societies that waste less and use resources more sustainably.
