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Energy Efficient Supply Chains

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B: Energy and Environment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 8721

Special Issue Editors

Department of Logistics, International Hellenic University, Nea Moudania, Greece
Interests: reverse logistics; supply chain management; operations management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ιn recent decades, global supply chains are becoming increasingly responsible for energy consumption and carbon output due to manufacturing, logistics operations (transportation of goods and warehousing), and industrial product use as well as their end-of-life management. In this context, there is an urgent demand for energy-efficient supply chains which aim towards minimization in the use of materials, energy consumption, emissions of greenhouse gases or other pollutants, etc., in procurement, production, and distribution. It is evident that the uptake of energy efficiency initiatives at the macroscale may become a major contributor in preventing global warming and in the transition into an inclusive green economy. A transition to low-carbon supply chains could well contribute into keeping global temperature increases under 2 °C whilst establishing the foundation towards sustainable development. In the modern era, there are still enormous untapped opportunities for improving operational efficiency, delivering improved customer goods and experience, and creating new business processes and business models. The supply chain sector is eager to exploit novel technological solutions (industry 4.0, blockchain, use of renewable resources, industrial symbiosis, etc.) to significantly improve its efficiency and provide economic benefits to all links of the supply chains in parallel to environmental performance and corporate social responsibility.

This Special Issue entitled “Energy-Efficient Supply Chains”, seeks to contribute to the energy efficiency agenda through boosting the performance efficiency of supply chain management and supporting the decision-making process of stakeholders via enhanced scientific and multidisciplinary knowledge. To that end, we invite papers on innovative technological developments in the field, reviews, case studies, or pilot studies that demonstrate near-to-market solutions, analyses as well as assessments, and multidisciplinary studies which are relevant to energy efficiency within the area of supply chain management.

Dr. Achillas Charisios
Dr. Dionysis Bochtis
Dr. Dimitris Aidonis
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Keywords

  • renewable energy
  • renewable resources
  • bioenergy
  • industry 4.0, industrial symbiosis
  • sustainability
  • transportation
  • warehousing
  • end-of-life

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4310 KiB  
Article
Possibilities of Using Inland Navigation to Improve Efficiency of Urban and Interurban Freight Transport with the Use of the River Information Services (RIS) System—Case Study
by Piotr Durajczyk and Natalia Drop
Energies 2021, 14(21), 7086; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217086 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1774
Abstract
Inland navigation is hardly ever used to transport cargo in cities. In most urban areas, it is performed almost exclusively via road transport, with the virtual exclusion of rail and inland transport. Research and implementation projects in several European cities have shown that [...] Read more.
Inland navigation is hardly ever used to transport cargo in cities. In most urban areas, it is performed almost exclusively via road transport, with the virtual exclusion of rail and inland transport. Research and implementation projects in several European cities have shown that employing inland navigation is a viable alternative for road transport in urban areas. The research involved a case study of transporting the same number of 40-foot containers by inland waterway and road and then comparing the results in terms of transport time, transport costs, and carbon dioxide emissions between two metropolitan areas in Poland. The article shows that River Information Services (RIS) system can contribute to improving freight transport efficiency not only on longer routes, but also in urban and inter-urban conditions. The findings were that inland shipping is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly, but transport takes much longer and is not always possible due to insufficient waterway infrastructure. The paper can be used as a road map to proceed with new approach to planning urban and inter-urban logistics, with the use of inland navigation supported by the RIS system. The study delivers evidence that the main benefits of using RIS for urban logistics are: optimization of the cargo route, improved supervision and control of cargo transport, optimization of inter-branch transport, optimization of the use of fleet, more efficient use of technical infrastructure of waterways, combination of many recipients/senders into one transport, and reduction of administrative barriers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Efficient Supply Chains)
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Review

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17 pages, 2909 KiB  
Review
Water-Energy-Nutrients Synergies in the Agrifood Sector: A Circular Economy Framework
by Efthymios Rodias, Eirini Aivazidou, Charisios Achillas, Dimitrios Aidonis and Dionysis Bochtis
Energies 2021, 14(1), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010159 - 30 Dec 2020
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 6242
Abstract
Circular economy is emerging as a regenerative concept that minimizes emissions, relies on renewable energy, and eliminates waste based on the design of closed-loop systems and the reuse of materials and resources. The implementation of circular economy practices in resource-consuming agricultural systems is [...] Read more.
Circular economy is emerging as a regenerative concept that minimizes emissions, relies on renewable energy, and eliminates waste based on the design of closed-loop systems and the reuse of materials and resources. The implementation of circular economy practices in resource-consuming agricultural systems is essential for reducing the environmental ramifications of the currently linear systems. As the renewable segment of circular economy, bioeconomy facilitates the production of renewable biological resources (i.e., biomass) that transform into nutrients, bio-based products, and bioenergy. The use of recycled agro-industrial wastewater in agricultural activities (e.g., irrigation) can further foster the circularity of the bio-based systems. In this context, this paper aims to provide a literature review in the field of circular economy for the agrifood sector to enhance resource efficiency by: (i) minimizing the use of natural resources (e.g., water, energy), (ii) decreasing the use of chemical fertilizers, (iii) utilizing bio-based materials (e.g., agricultural/livestock residues), and (iv) reusing wastewater from agrifood operations. The final objective is to investigate any direct or indirect interactions within the water-energy-nutrients nexus. The derived framework of synergetic circular economy interventions in agriculture can act as a basis for developing circular bio-based business models and creating value-added agrifood products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Efficient Supply Chains)
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