Fossil Fuel Prospects in the Energy of the Future (Energy 5.0): A Review

Abstract

Achieving the energy and climate goals of sustainable development, declared by the UN as imperative and relevant for the upcoming Society 5.0 with its human-centricity of technological development, requires ensuring a “seamless” Fourth Energy Transition, preserving but at the same time modifying the role of fossil fuels in economic development. In this regard, the purpose of this review is to analyze the structure of publications in the field of technological platforms for the energy of the future (Energy 5.0), with digital human-centric modernization and investment in fossil fuel extraction in the context of the Fourth Energy Transition. To achieve this goal, this review presents a comprehensive overview of research in the field of determining the prospects of fossil fuels within Energy 5.0, characterized not only by the dominance of renewable energy sources and the imperative of zero CO2 emissions, but also by the introduction of human-centric technologies of Industry 5.0 (the Industrial Internet of Everything, collaborative artificial intelligence, digital triplets). It was concluded that further research in such areas of Energy 5.0 development as the human-centric vector of modernization of fossil fuel extraction and investment, achieving energy and climate goals for sustainable development, reducing CO2 emissions in the mineral extractive sector itself, and developing CO2 capture and utilization technologies is important and promising for a “seamless” Fourth Energy Transition.