Circular Economy Mechanisms for Improving Energy Efficiency

Dear Colleagues,

The circular economy (CE) is increasingly recognized as an enabler of sustainable energy transitions, yet its contribution to energy efficiency is often addressed only conceptually. This Special Issue, “Circular Economy Mechanisms for Improving Energy Efficiency,” examines how specific, operational circular-economy mechanisms generate measurable improvements in energy efficiency and reductions in energy demand across products, processes, infrastructure, and energy systems.

The Special Issue adopts a mechanism-oriented perspective, moving beyond general circularity narratives to examine how concrete CE strategies translate into quantifiable energy outcomes. Relevant mechanisms include material loop strategies (reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recycling) that reduce embodied and operational energy demand; industrial symbiosis and cascading resource use enabling waste heat recovery and shared energy services; life-cycle-oriented design approaches minimizing cumulative energy use; digital technologies (e.g., IoT, artificial intelligence, and digital twins) for monitoring and optimizing coupled energy and material flows; and system-level integration of circular strategies in industrial clusters, urban systems, and energy-intensive value chains.

To ensure alignment with the scope of Energies, all submissions must include explicit energy-related results, such as reductions in final or primary energy demand, improvements in energy efficiency indicators, or clearly quantified implications for energy systems (e.g., renewable integration, flexibility, storage, or sector coupling). Submissions lacking a clear energy metric or energy-system relevance will be considered out of scope.

Topics of interest include circular strategies and energy performance at the product, process, and system levels; industrial symbiosis and energy demand reduction; digital solutions for energy optimization in circular systems; policy and governance frameworks that link circular economy and energy strategies; and life-cycle and system modeling of circular–energy interactions.

The Special Issue welcomes theoretical, empirical, and applied research employing robust methodologies, including techno-economic analysis, life-cycle assessment, system modeling, case studies, and policy evaluation.

Prof. Dr. Lucian-Ionel Cioca
Dr. Elena Simina Lakatos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.