Business case

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Reduced use of fossil fuel energy sources and/or increased use of renewable energy

Reduce Energy Consumption

Providing electricity and gas services, including traditional and renewable energy generation, natural and manufactured gas and operating gas networks

Energy Utilities and Independent Power Producers

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

Providing residential and non-residential construction services, such as architectural, engineering, planning, real-estate, contracting, and inspection services

Construction and Real Estate Services

Recovering and reusing waste heat, gas, etc. for energy

Recovery and reuse of waste energy

Designing products so they use as little materials, water, energy, etc. as possible during use

Design for resource efficiency

Use waste heat

Efficiency and effectiveness of water supply services must be secured by minimising the leaks, through a combination of leak detection techniques, pipes maintenance and reparation and water audits. Leak minimisation can be enhanced through the use of sensor technologies.

Minimise leaks

Greywater is drained water from bathing, laundering, washing dishes etc. and excludes sewage (black water). Greywater can be reused most commonly for irrigation and toilet flushing if the appropriate system to capture and distribute it is in place. To extend usage possibilities, filtration and treatment systems may be introduced. 

Use greywater

Other

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Urban Opportunities

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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A lot, even though there are no moving parts and EcoDrain™ requires no electricity to operate. Inside, a specifically engineered piping configuration transfers heat energy from the hot shower water to the incoming fresh water supply.  And, a patent-pending device optimizes turbulence in the fresh water supply for maximum energy recovery.

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EcoDrain

<p>Canadian firm EcoDrain has developed a greywater heat exchanger specifically for showers that can be installed at any time, not only during building construction. It transfers heat from outgoing drain water to cold incoming water, saving money and energy with rate of return of approximately 43%. There is also a version made specifically for professional kitchens.</p>

Recovery and reuse of waste heat from greywater

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Enacting measures that optimise energy use

Energy efficiency

<p>Heating water is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the household, and most of the energy that is used to heat water is wasted as the water flows down the drain. While heat exchangers have existed for a while, many of them require lots of space and are hard to install. EcoDrain tries to make them more accessible by designing a heat exchanger specifically for the most energy-intensive use of water in households: showering. The EcoDrain system is claimed to save up to 45% of heating energy, transferring it to incoming cold freshwater to reduce the need for energy to heat up the water. They have since used the technology to improve conventional heat exchangers and develop a system to be employed in commercial kitchens to capture the energy from dishwashing.</p>