Energizing the Now: Navigating the Critical Landscape of Today’s Energy Challenges—An In-Depth Review

Abstract

Today’s energy challenges are multifaceted. Over the past 30–40 years, energy issues have been discussed and published on an extensive scale. The green transition involves concrete actions related to increasing energy efficiency, replacing fossil fuels with alternative fuels, producing energy using renewable resources, creating various means of transport that use electric motors, identifying technical solutions that generate an increased energy yield in the case of buildings, and waste reduction, reuse and recycling. In order to attain a climate-neutral environment, it is mandatory to impose regulations, measures and actions to help decarbonize the energy sector. The analysis of published articles on these issues is the subject of this large and information-dense review. Concretely, the transition to climate neutrality will generate obvious advantages at an economic, social and technological level, for example, the opportunity for economic growth, new business models and new markets, and the generation of new jobs or technological development. At the same time, this paper underscores the need for a multifaceted approach, integrating technological innovation, policy intervention and global cooperation for an effective energy transformation. The review suggests future issues and research directions, focusing on viable strategies for energy transition and its socio-economic environmental impacts.

Navigating through the Storm—The Challenges of the Energy Transition in the European Union

“…This new energy transition is aligned with all sustainable development goals (SDGs) and puts consumers at the center of attention, which is increasingly facing the specter of energy poverty [29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. New technologies, the use of renewable energies, and the existence of prosumers have led to the decentralization and flexibility of national energy systems.…”