This study investigates electricity use interdependencies across Sweden's industrial sectors. Highlighting a knowledge gap in the literature on the complex relationship of sectoral power usage, and how it can aid in energy system integration. Using cross-quantilogram correlations, reveals nonlinear dependencies between different sectors, and adjusting for economic activity still show significant sector interconnections. The results are robust after adjusting for seasonal effects. These links inform on vulnerabilities and implications for energy system integration, sector coupling and "Power-to-X" technologies. The results emphasise the importance of understanding electricity use patterns for policy and industry collaborations concerning sustainable energy solutions, offering insights for stakeholders, and suggesting directions for future research to support policy and risk management.

As the global community faces unprecedented climate change challenges, the transition towards a sustainable society has become an urgent priority. The complexity of this transition is characterised by the interplay of developing and implementing green manufacturing processes, integrated energy systems, and circular resource flows, and the inherent dynamics associated with geopolitical uncertainties, energy price fluctuations, and global instability. Although new technological advancements and more sustainable models are on the rise, a significant knowledge gap remains in comprehending the intricate dependencies and impacts of various uncertainties on complex industrial and energy systems. Dependency means that one component, sub-system, or variable relies on another for its operation or effectiveness. A change in one element will directly affect the other, causing changes in its status or actions. Because the components are interconnected in this way, they are not independent of each other. This knowledge gap is particularly noticeable in the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between the energy system and uncertainties. This became significantly more apparent during events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the sub-sequent Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

The aim of this thesis is threefold: 1) to explore identified outcomes and values in industrial symbiosis collaborations within the context of the circular economy; 2) to assess electricity dynamics under the influence of uncertainty, focusing on the Swedish industrial sectors; and 3) to present a frame-work for evaluating integrated and circular systems and the potential influencing uncertainty mechanisms.  

The motivation for this research comes from the limited understanding of the dynamics in future sustainable industrial systems and how intended out-comes may be affected by various unexpected events or shocks. The increasing complexity and interconnectedness, including global links, call for a broader perspective that encompasses more than just technical aspects, acknowledging a broader set of interconnections between system components. Therefore, it is important to consider not only the interactions be-tween the components of the system but also their connections to the global environment.  

This thesis aims to fill this gap by exploring the aspects of outcomes and values in circular solutions and uncertainty’s influence on the electricity system. 

The results reveal that circular solutions in industry aim for resource efficiency, focusing mainly on short-term economic values through optimising material use, energy utilisation, water use, and waste exchanges. The results also reveal that research in circular approaches emphasises energy and environmental aspects, particularly CO2 reduction, where values are derived through market-based valuation. The shorter time horizons in the research literature signal a focus on immediate gains, with values based on non-market valuation underrepresented. In this context, non-market valuation refers to the assignment of monetary values to goods and services that are not usually traded in conventional markets. Examples include environmental as-sets such as clean air and water, as well as social and cultural assets.  The results also underscore that uncertainty significantly influences electricity utilisation across various Swedish industrial sectors and power sources. However, depending on the type of uncertainty measure, such as global or domestic uncertainty, the impact of uncertainty affects different industrial sectors in distinct ways, and the results also unveil industry-specific dependency structures.  This analysis shows the importance of understanding how industrial electricity utilisation interacts with various sectors and power sources, as well as the role of uncertainty. This understanding is especially vital considering its potential impact on interconnected resource flows and integrated energy systems. The findings also present a preliminary foundation for developing a framework capable of evaluating integrated and circular systems, encompassing aspects such as institutional units, symbiosis categories, outcome classification, connectivity, and time aspects, all while considering the influence of uncertainty. 

_{This study aims to provide insights into the factors shaping electricity demand in Swedish industrial sectors using the nonlinear version of the autoregressive distributed lag model (NARDL). This approach captures the complex short- and long-run relationships between uncertainty and electric power use in Swedish industrial sectors. The results reveal sector-specific responses to uncertainties and asymmetries in electricity use patterns. By examining the entire industrial sector in Sweden, this approach uncovers underlying issues and hidden patterns, while also providing insights into the functioning and behaviour of industrial systems. The rapid electrification and new green industrialisation initiatives in Sweden, coupled with the integration of a circular economy, underscore the importance of understanding the dynamics of electricity use in the face of uncertain shocks. This knowledge is vital for ensuring, amongst other things, grid stability, mitigating the need for costly peaking capacity, and identifying potential challenges in the interconnection of energy and material circular flows}

Several scholars have highlighted the idea that energy consumption in general and consumption of renewable energy (RE) in particular may be a potential driver of economic growth. In this paper, we examine the relationship between RE production and economic activity in Canada between May 1966 and December 2015. By applying quantile causality (Troster, 2018), we adopt a nonlinear approach considering all quantiles of the distribution and analysing monthly data consisting of RE production and the Canadian Industrial Production Index (IPI). We find evidence of a nonlinear relationship in Canada, an important result that widely-used linear models fail to capture. Our main findings imply a unidirectional relationship going from the IPI to RE production, which supports the Conservation hypothesis. The directionality between RE and economic growth is sensitive to the market conditions in Canada.