Circular economy principles in community energy initiatives through stakeholder perspectives

The world is looking toward clean and reliable energy solutions that could empower society to mitigate carbon emissions and provide a sustainable way ahead. The circular economy (CE) principles in community energy ini-tiatives can help shift the existing energy pattern and transform society to better understand the Sustainable De-velopment Goals (SDGs). This study aims to structure and evaluate the preference of stakeholders' objectives for community energy formation in the era of the CE to accelerate clean energy transitions. The conscious use of en-ergy while participating in energy projects helps reduce energy consumption, reuse waste, and redesign commu-nity grid expansion with climate protection objectives. These links are explored systematically by integrating the value-focused thinking (VFT) approach and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Using the VFT approach helped uncover strategic objectives of maximizing values of community energy using CE measures. Moreover, AHP assisted in identifying the preferred set of values as the results indicate that technical categories are fundamental pressure points for implementing CE principles in such initiatives. This study's contribution falls at the intersec-tion of these concepts, where community energy initiatives provide a platform to integrate CE strategies. This study helps realize the rebound effects of consumer-centric community energy initiatives considering CE princi-ples from a governance literature perspective. From a strategical standpoint, it signifies the potential links between CE and community energy initiatives. The adoption of CE measures has been seen as a "win-win" solu-tion to the community energy business models and improves economic, environmental, and social sustainability.(c) 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.