The impact of sustainable construction and knowledge management on sustainability goals. A review of the Venezuelan renewable energy sector

Abstract

The recognition of the relevance of energy, especially of the renewable energies generated by the sun, water, wind, tides, modern biomass or thermal is growing significantly in the global society based on the possibility it has to improve societies' quality of life, to support poverty reduction and sustainable development. Renewable energy, and mainly the energy generated by large hydropower generation projects that supply most of the renewable energy consumed by developing countries, requires many technical, legal, financial and social complex processes sustained by innovations and valuable knowledge. Besides these efforts, renewable energy requires a solid infrastructure to generate and distribute the energy resources needed to solve the basic needs of society. This demands a proper construction performance to deliver the energy projects planned according to specifications and respecting environmental and social concerns, which implies the observance of sustainable construction guidelines. But construction projects are complex and demanding and frequently face time and cost overruns that may cause negative impacts on the initial planning and thus on society. The renewable energy issue and the large renewable energy power generation and distribution projects are particularly significant for developing countries and for Latin America in particular, as this region concentrates an important hydropower potential and installed capacity. Using as references the performance of Venezuelan large hydropower generation projects and the Guri dam construction, this research evaluates the tight relationship existing between sustainable construction and knowledge management and their impact to achieve sustainability goals. The knowledge management processes are proposed as a basic strategy to allow learning from successes and failures obtained in previous projects and transform the enhancement opportunites into actions to improve the performance of the renewable energy power generation and distribution projects.

Studying the relationship between economic growth, CO2 emissions, and the environmental Kuznets curve in Venezuela (1980–2025)

“…The Venezuelan government has identified potential sources of renewable energy that would enable a reduction of the consumption of fossil fuel in the near future [38,41]. At present, Venezuela has an hidro power complex at Caroí river with and annual energy production of 130 TWh, but the potential energy yield of this complex could reach 246 TWh.…”

Renewable Energy Infrastructure. Importance to Reach Sustainability goals. Venezuelan situation in 2016

“…Beyond its unquestionable environmental importance, the use of renewable energy is considered one of the basic strategies to sustain poverty reduction and sustainable development [5]. Additionally, renewable electricity consumption is acknowledged as a more fundamental element than nonrenewable to promote economic growth [4].…”

“…Having such constraints as reference, in general there is no doubt that renewable energy is essential to offer sustainable solutions for society, and this demonstrates the importance of proper evolution of the infrastructure projects related to energy production, distribution and use as they are fundamental to improve quality of life and to support sustainable development [5].…”

“…This is an important challenge for all the countries, and in particular for developing ones. And this is why the sustainable construction guidelines become a fundamental issue to sustain the efforts needed to accomplish the renewable energy projects planned [5].…”

“…From them different results may arise, being some more positive than others. Latin American countries have huge renewable energy potential mainly in hydropower [4] [5], and the region has made important investments to produce it, but according to the Renewable Energy Policy Network [1] world investments are still insufficient to reach the goal of Sustainable Energy for All.…”