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Waste handling is one of the biggest problems across the globe. An additional challenge of mitigating climate change also arises during the burning of fossil fuel. The fossil fuel-based transportation system in India that gives rise to air pollution has a worse impact on people. To overcome these problems, a sustainability assessment framework is introduced in this study. Ethanol, a member of the biofuel family, is one of the cleanest and most sustainable forms of energy sources. The purpose of this research is to develop a sustainability assessment framework to investigate the environmental feasibility of a supply chain system that provides an end-to-end solution and how it would benefit the transportation sector. A second-generation (2G) ethanol-based supply chain is envisaged, and agro-waste such as corncobs and paddy straw are considered in this study. The assessment is carried out using a heuristic-based method, known as particle swarmoptimization (PSO) technique, within the framework of circular economy. The results show that the biomass collection in the proposed area produces 2.5 tons of CO2 per hectare area on average, which is much lower in comparison to 996.6 tons of CO2 per hectare in the Middle East, the main source of fossil fuel. In the future, this research would benefit the enterprises and government organizations that establish 2G ethanol plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy Internet, a futuristic evolution of electricity system, is conceptualized as an energy sharing network. Its features, such as plug-and-play mechanism, real-time bidirectional flow of energy, information, and money can lead to significant benefits and innovation in electricity production and utilization. Energy Internet integrates small-scale renewable energy systems, electric loads, storage devices, and electric vehicles for effective transaction of power backed by emerging technologies such as Internet of Things, vehicle-to-grid, and blockchain. At present, there is no scaled-up working model of Energy Internet, and literature is scarce, which makes the research in this domain significant, novel, and timely. Given this, an attempt is made to develop the conceptual model of an Energy Internet, elaborate its structure and components, and discuss its operational principles. First, a comprehensive overview of Energy Internet is presented along with its aptness as a future evolution of electricity system. Second, concepts, architectures, and features that underpin Energy Internet are outlined. Third, concept of ‘Energy Intranet’ is introduced to denote the scaled-down version of Energy Internet, which embodies energy prosumers and local energy markets to form a local energy cluster. Finally, discussion is presented on the network structure of Energy Internet, relevance of emerging technologies and innovative operational mechanisms.