52nd Annual A&WMA Critical Review: Circular Economy for Clean Energy Technologies

Thursday, June 30, 2022

8:00am – 10:30am PT

Location: Bayview B

Sponsored By

Co-Author(s)

Garvin A. Heath, PhD

Senior Scientist
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Golden, Colorado

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Dwarak Ravikumar, Ph.D.

Scientist
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Panelist(s)

Stephanie L. Shaw, Ph.D.

Technical Executive
Electric Power Research Institute

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Chih C. Chao, PhD, PEng

Principal
Cantech Environmental Services
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Brian Tarroja, Ph.D., P.E.

Manager, Energy Systems Integration, Advanced Power and Energy Program
University of California, Irvine

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Gerald Braun

Founder and Director
Integrated Renewable Energy Systems Network (IRESN)

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The 2022 Annual A&WMA Critical Review synthesizes the growing literature on renewable energy to identify key insights, gaps, and opportunities for
research and implementation of a circular economy -- that is, shifting from a take-use-waste linear economic model to one that retains the value of materials and products as long as possible, recovering materials at end of life to recirculate back into the economy -- of two leading renewable energy technologies: solar photovoltaic (PV) and lithium-ion batteries (LIB). The authors employ the PRISMA systematic literature procedures to comprehensively review over 3,000 journal articles and government reports on the circular economy of solar PV and LIB, categorizing those that pass a series of objectives screens in ways that can illuminate the current state-of-the-art, highlight existing impediments to a circular economy, and recommend future technological and analytical research. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first paper to not only authoritatively identify, synthesize, and critically review the status, challenges, and opportunities for all circular economy pathways for each of these technologies individually, but also to draw out parallels across the leading clean energy technologies holistically. The full-length paper appears in the June 2022 issue of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (JA&WMA), while a brief summary appears in the June 2022 issue of EM.