Here with Julien Walzberg | Life cycle assessment for quantification of the environmental impacts of the circular economy
On January 31, the lunch break will be an opportunity to discuss a tool for quantification and visualization of the environmental impacts of the circular economy, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Please note that this presentation will be held in French only.
The circular economy (CE) aims to decouple human activities from the use of natural resources. While the economic and environmental benefits of the CE are often touted by its proponents, increased circularity and sustainable development do not necessarily go hand in hand. The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) tool simulates the transition of renewable energy technology supply chains towards circularity, and quantifies the environmental impacts and costs of this transition in a spatially and temporally explicit way. Using the end-of-life management of wind turbine blades as a case study, this presentation details CELAVI’s functionalities. Planned extensions to the tool and avenues for future research are also presented. In conclusion, CELAVI can be used by decision-makers to answer crucial questions concerning the end-of-life management and circularity of different technologies.
About the speaker
Julien Walzberg is a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he works on various projects related to the circular economy. His postdoctoral research – also at NREL – focused on the application of multi-agent modeling to analyze circular economy opportunities for various technologies. He participated in the Ellen Macarthur Foundation’s “From linear to circular” program and holds a PhD in chemical engineering from Polytechnique Montréal.
