Abstract
The article analyses energy efficiency and energy consumption trends in Lithuania in terms of sustainable development and aims to assess these trends in developed and transition economies. The results of development achieved by EU-15 and other developed countries indicate that the goals of sustainable development such as prosperity, high rates of economic development and low impact on the environment are not conflicting and can be achieved together. Transition economies newly entered the EU and suffering from a high resource intensity of economics and a comparatively low income per capita can converge in terms of the main indicators with EU-15 up to 2020.
Highlights
In terms of problems arising in the implementation of sustainable development, three groups of countries should be distinguished: developed, developing and transition countries
The total primary energy supply (TPES)/GDP index shows the trends in overall energy use relative to GDP.1t indicates the general relationship of energy consumption to economic development and is very relevant for assessing the progress towards sustainable energy development
The data show that, on average, a one per cent decrease in the per capita income gap between developed and transition economies leads to a decrease in the energy intensity growth rate of a transition country by 0.7%
Summary
In terms of problems arising in the implementation of sustainable development, three groups of countries should be distinguished: developed, developing and transition countries. For analysis of sustainable development issues the main focus should be concentrated on eco-effectiveness indicators, such as energy and resource consumption per GDp, emission of pollutants per unit of1PES and unit of GDP Another important issue is an active policy debate within the transition countries themselves as to whether total energy use should grow as the GDP grows. The concept of sustainable development merges two urgent goals (Daly, 1990 and 1991): a) to ensure appropriate, secure, wealthy life for all people - it is the goal of the development, and b) to live and work in accordance with bio-physicallimits of the environment - it is the goal of sustainability These goals might seem contradictory, but some relative data on environmental quality, natural resources utilisation and GDP per capita allow a presumption that environmental quality improves and income inequality diminishes with an increase of income per capita. To assess these trends in terms of sustainability and to develop a forecast on the convergence of these indicators between developed and transition countries
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