Abstract
A circular economy does not generate emissions or leave behind waste that needs to be taken care of by future generations. Petroleum-based transportation systems generate substantial emissions, and oil seems to be a raw material that is imminently threatened by reduced production, following the event of Peak Oil. Efforts to build new transportation systems have been going on for decades, but systems are still at an early point in their development. Larsson argues that there is a need to view the transformation from a systems perspective, identifying all the relevant aspects of an implementation as decisions are made. Availability of raw materials for fuel production is one such aspect, as are the investments that will become necessary in order to build new systems on a large scale.
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Notes
- 1.
Estimate by aviation analysts Ascend, reported by The Telegraph in the article “How many planes are there in the world right now?” on the 16 February 2017.
- 2.
Reported by the statistics portal www.statista.com.
- 3.
- 4.
Blair , Tony—A Journey, pp. 292–293.
- 5.
Uddenfeldt, Therese—Gratislunchen, pp. 73–77.
- 6.
Blair , Tony—A Journey, pp. 296–297.
- 7.
Smil, V. Power Density (2015), MIT Press, Cambridge, p. 227.
- 8.
The Swedish utility Vattenfall, with the government as the largest shareholder, has started to close down nuclear reactors, because of the increase in wind and combined heat and power plants, and due to the opportunity to import electricity from nearby countries. Two reactors have already been closed and two more will be closed in the next few years. Over the past two decades, the new capacity that has been added amounts to twenty terawatt hours. Unfortunately, governments and utilities have not yet started to include the increasing power demand from electric vehicle fleets in their forecasts.
- 9.
This figure was first picked up in an interview with the former R&D manager at ABB , Harry Frank.
- 10.
ABB information material—Powering the World Economy, Is There a Better Way to Use Electricity?
- 11.
Lacy, Peter & Rutqvist, Jakob—Waste to Wealth, p. 112.
- 12.
Professor Kjell Aleklett , in his book “Peeking at Peak Oil” (2012) warns that after some years of decline of some 1.5 per cent, oil volumes is likely to go into “free fall,” a troubling prediction. Presumably free fall may mean that volumes decline by 3, 4, or 5 per cent per year, a rate of decline that is likely to be very difficult for decision makers to handle.
- 13.
Comparisons made by Norsk Elbil Forening www.elbil.no.
- 14.
Data from Statistics Norway www.ssb.no.
- 15.
Official Danish statistics presented on the site of industry organization Dansk Elbil Alliance www.danskelbilalliance.dk.
References
Aleklett, K. (2012). Peeking at Peak Oil. New York: Springer.
Lacy, P., & Rutqvist, J. (2015). Waste to Wealth. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Larsson, M. R. (2012). The Business of Global Energy Transformation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Uddenfeldt, T. (2016). Gratislunchen. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag.
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Larsson, M. (2018). Transportation Systems, Renewable Fuels, and Energy Efficiency. In: Circular Business Models. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71791-3_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71791-3_14
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