Sustainable Energy Development: History and Recent Advances

Abstract

Sustainable energy development (SED) is a crucial component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), aiming to maintain economic and social progress while protecting the environment and mitigating climate change’s effects. SED serves as a transition paradigm for sustainable development, providing a blueprint for energy peace and prosperity for people and all uses. This article presents the history of SED and then uses a critical discourse approach to summarize existing review studies in SED. Ten interlinked themes of SED are identified, with two of them considered to be among the least studied in existing SED reviews and in the current global discussion around climate change. This study explores these two themes, which include energy financing and the need for 100% renewable energy (RE), a sub-theme of decarbonization strategy working towards the 1.5–2.0 °C scenario. The study suggests that the current G20 countries’ contributions, if maintained continuously per annum, in addition to 80% more funding from private investment compared to the amount in the 1.5 °C scenario financial requirements for clean energy, are sufficient to limit global warming. In addition to the present drive for 100% RE, the article also discusses emerging issues, such as energy storage options with an indication of hydrogen as the most promising, other energy-related development agendas, and the need for regional security stability to prevent energy wars. Selected SED decarbonization strategies are presented across the power, transport, building, and industrial sectors. The study concludes with progress and directions for future research, mainly the need for re-defining nationally determined contribution (NDC) through an emissions budgeting and centralized global or regional emissions stock-taking strategy working towards the 1.5 °C scenario.

Sustainable Energy Development and Sustainable Economic Development in EU Countries

“…Analyzing the dynamics of changes in the values of synthetic measures in individual countries, it can be observed that the vast majority of EU countries have not achieved lasting sustainable energy development. Using the 2014 value as the base value, it can be noted that in most countries (15) in the following years (2015-2021) these measures were at a lower level than in 2014. This means that in these countries, in the subsequent years 2015-2021, compared to 2014, there were no positive changes in the area of sustainable energy.…”

“…Despite the relative popularity of this topic, there is currently no research that would analyze these two key areas of sustainable development jointly. There are many studies that examine either sustainable energy development [9,15,17,18,[80][81][82][83] or sustainable economic development [84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92], but none that presents research results regarding both, plus their mutual relationship. Only in selected European Commission documents can one find statements and conclusions indicating that, for example, a long-term interruption in energy supply would have a significant impact on the EU economy [93][94][95].…”

“…The sustainable development of the entire energy sector plays a vital role in implementing the concept of sustainable development. Many researchers [15][16][17][18][19] point out that this will require rethinking the entire world economy, and most importantly, the energy economy in particular. A sustainable energy sector is a much-needed direction of development, with the global economy being threatened by energy deficits, excessive cash transfers to raw-material economies, environmental devastation, climate change, and biodiversity loss.…”

Artificial Intelligence Integrated Energy Education Framework. A Holistic Approach

“…In response to the pressing need for transitioning towards cleaner and more sustainable energy systems, higher education institutions took significant steps to broaden their energy studies programs. These expansions included incorporating coursework and research focused on renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency measures, and environmental sustainability practices [28].…”

“…Table 3. The fundamental scale [28] for pairwise comparisons (l -lower fuzzy number, m -middle fuzzy number, u -upper fuzzy number).…”