Historically, the demand created by the industrial revolution prompted the development of energy chains. The proximity of consumers (manufacturing sites) to energy sources (coal mines) and generation sites (coke ovens etc.) show that the energy chains of the time were an integral part of an early industrial cycle.

Despite the low efficiency of each part of the chain, the overall energy / industrial integration efficiency gave competitive advantages, fuelled by new levels of cost effectiveness.

Energy chains have been developed to their present state by constant pressure.
The challenges of finding new, more effective or cleaner sources of energy (including natural gas) and more recently renewable energy, and the overall complexity of the modern energy sector and associated logistics drew more attention to concerns about security of energy supplies, efficiency of production, transfer and conversion rather than other energy related issues. However, recently there has been renewed interest about energy systems at the domestic level.

Successful commencement and realisation of programmes aiming to enhance share and overall importance of the domestic part of the global energy chains may play more important role than many other measures, especially if such programmes result in the convergence of circular economy principles.

If similar strategies were widely adopted, the above outlined actions would offer the potential to realign the trends that began at the time of industrial revolution. Global demand for primary energy can be partially replaced by the energy ‘recycled’ within domestic boundaries.