A methodological approach for assessing businness investments in renewable resources from a circular economy perspective

Abstract

In this paper, we have analyzed a feasibility project for the realization of a biogas plant at a company in the viticulture sector located in south-central Sicily. Using engineering formulas, we identified the electrical power that the plant could produce using waste products created by the vineyard itself, examined the new and interesting opportunities that have arisen with the encouragement and development of biogas production in Italy, and then assessed the economic feasibility of the investment itself, considering an investment scheme of total capital self-financing.The possibility of using wastes from wine production comes from an in-depth study of the circular economy, that is, an economic system designed to regenerate on its own; indeed, in the circular economy, every waste product becomes a resource, and some resources can be taken from one production scheme and used in another without being discarded.The concept of circular economy is based on the ability to recover onsite resources that are still circulating (overproduction, waste) instead of importing them from the outside. Recovering these substances creates sustainable agriculture, preserves soil fertility thanks to reconstructed biodiversity, and also helps locate proper uses for refuse and organic waste products.