Renewable Energy For Sustainable Development Research Articles

Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development

The significant role of renewable energy in our quest for a just transition to reach the Sustainable Development Goals is unquestionable [...]

Renewable energy for sustainable development in sub-Saharan African countries: Challenges and way forward

The achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) depends on the access of modern, sufficient, and efficient energy to all people. Currently, developing countries including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are the most vulnerable to the environmental problems associated with the use of non-renewable energy. All countries are striving to develop and use sustainable renewable energy (RE) with zero, low, or neutral greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are a lot of challenges that hinder effective utilization of RE resources in SSA. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore RE potentials for sustainable development in sub-Saharan African countries and provides an in-depth discussion on the challenges facing the exploitation of renewable energy resources. Additionally, it examines ways forward to improve the situation. This study systematically reviews the RE and sustainable development sector in SSA based on the relevant studies published between 2012 and 2020. Relevant data and information from various bibliographic sources such as Web of Science were collected, selected, organized, analyzed, interpreted, and presented in themes, graphs, and tables. The study revealed that despite the abundance of RE resources such as hydropower, wind and solar energy, and bio and geothermal power in SSA, there are various drawbacks curtailing their exploitation. These include inadequate technical, financial, and human resources, weak institutional and regulatory frameworks, and sociopolitical barriers. Thus, the study recommends the strengthening of the institutional and regulatory framework, capacity building, and harmonization of financial resources and enhancement of security and political environments to attract investors.

Maasai Mara University Impact in Knowledge Sharing on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development: Narok County, Kenya

Universities serve as a hub in knowledge generation which is the main driver for a sustainable economic growth. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) continues to foster a green development pathway for Kenya. Maasai Mara University being a public university in Narok County it is expected to influence the community in knowledge sharing and dissemination on various research outputs. Through the establishment of the Center for Innovation, New and Renewable Energy, Maasai Mara University has facilitated the use of green energy. With only 46% of the Kenyan households having access to electricity, 54% of the population make use of non-renewable energy sources for their daily needs. This means that most Kenyans continue to use non-renewable energy presumably due to lack of knowledge for an alternative. Narok County counted as a marginalized county in Kenya, benefited from International Development Association (IDA) where $150 million grant was issued via the World Bank to promote access to modern energy. The Kenyan government through Rural Electrification Programme, has come up with the National Electricity Policy aimed at increasing the deployment of renewable energy. With such concerns, there is need to determine whether or not universities actualize their role of sharing information including that of renewable energy to the community. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population was 11,776 households in Narok Town sublocation. With the use of stratified sampling technique, the sample size used in the study was 4122 households being 35% of the number of households in the area. Primary data was collected using open ended and closed questionnaire. The study revealed that 56.6% of the Narok Town residents were not aware of renewable energy sources. Only 17.6% of the households were able to be influenced on green energy choices by Centre for Innovation, New and Renewable Energy at Maasai Mara University. The study further indicates that 47.9% of the households would prefer seminars as the appropriate method. For universities to share knowledge on renewable energy. The study therefore recommends that Institutions of higher learning should be on the forefront to influence green energy to surrounding communities. Keywords: Universities; Knowledge Sharing; Renewable Energy; Maasai Mara University DOI : 10.7176/JETP/9-9-04 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Journey towards Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development at the Local Government Level: The Case of Hessequa Municipality in South Africa

The purpose of the research on which this article reports was to investigate how renewable energy forms part of the strategy of a local government, and to evaluate how participatory processes are utilised in the development and communication of this municipal strategy. The research was conducted with Hessequa Municipality, a local authority situated in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. A new aspect of the research was an attempt to consider renewable energy options as part of the municipal strategy, and not as a standalone project. Action research was undertaken and the resulting qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Cognitive mapping was used to display the data and to analyse the causal relationships between different strategic themes. The causal relationships explicitly show that many opportunities for renewable energy solutions are evident in the form of: biomass-to-energy, low-carbon local economic development, small-scale embedded generation, waste-to-energy, and feed-in tariffs. The barriers for implementation are aging infrastructure and financial and legislative constraints. Participatory processes formed an integral part of the strategy formulation, and a unique visualised strategy was developed for communication with local citizens—a first for a local municipality in South Africa.

The Potential Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development in Tanzania: A Review

Currently, renewable energy development is emphasized for sustainable development goals accomplishment and the better realization of sustainable development globally. Tanzania, like other developing countries, is striving to adopt different ways of ensuring affordable and accessible energy supply to its socioeconomic and political sectors to achieve renewable energy development. To secure affordable and accessible energy in the country, renewable energy is termed as an alternative energy source because of it is environmentally friendly. If renewable energy is produced and utilized in a modern and sustainable manner, it will help to eliminate energy problems in Tanzania. Thus, this study aims to review the current potential renewable energy for the achievement of sustainable development in Tanzania. Moreover, challenges of renewable energy development are examined.

A perspective on the potential role of renewable energy for sustainable development on a local scale

A perspective on the potential role of renewable energy for sustainable development on a local scale

Policy Interventions in Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development: Is Ghana on the Right Path to Achieve SDG 7?

Goal 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals seeks to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services and increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030. This target provides an opportunity as well as a challenge to African countries including Ghana. Indeed, the Ghana Energy Commission estimates that Ghana has about 34 potential hydro sites and enjoys about 330 days of sunshine annually. For instance, the three Northern regions, Volta and northern parts of Brong Ahafo have radiation levels with monthly average of between 4.0 and 6.5kWh/m2/day. These hydro and solar resources, coupled with abundant waste, wind potential of about 2000 MW and tidal potential can make Ghana a net exporter of power when the needed investment is provided. This paper examines the policy interventions in renewable energy in Ghana over the past 20 years. It also includes a review of the literature on the relationship between renewable energy investment and sustainable development and provides policy recommendations to fast-track renewable energy technology deployment in Ghana.

Promoting Efficient and Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development and Climate Change Mitigation in Nigeria: Policy, Legislative and Regulatory Challenges

Energy is essential for development. No developing society can hope to achieve economic sustainability without adequate energy supplies. Virtually every aspect of economic and social activity demands energy. The unavailability of modern forms of energy to some two billion of the world’s population, and inadequate supplies to an estimated additional two billion people, is a major challenge to the achievement of the poverty, gender and health objectives of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. At the same time, energy generation using fossil fuels is the principal source of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The mining and processing of fossil fuels can also endanger the lives of miners, cause severe land disruption and pollute land, air and waters. Furthermore, burning fossil fuels emits nitrogen and sulphuric oxides that are themselves toxic and are the precursors of urban smog and acid rain, while coal-burning power stations are responsible for mercury emissions that bio-accumulate in ecosystems, presenting a threat to human health as well as the environment. Providing the energy essential for development while minimising environmental hazards is one of the principal challenges in the 21st century.Energy efficiency offers perhaps the greatest potential to greatly reduce the amount of polluting energy needed to achieve current and future development targets. By eliminating waste, efficiency can often be accomplished at a profit or with a very short payback period of a year or two. Renewable energy, in the form of energy produced from solar, wind, sustainably managed hydro, geothermal and biomass resources, offers the potential to significantly displace the need for polluting fuels. These renewable resources are emphasised in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. This chapter therefore contends that, while much has been written about the science, technology and policies for promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, little has been written about the legislative and regulatory options necessary to implement these technologies and policies that make a reality in practice. By promoting clean and efficient energy use at the legislative and regulatory levels, governments can ensure that all stakeholders have the opportunity and incentives to adopt new practices that will help to mitigate climate change and reduce pollution while keeping on the path of economic and social development. It is against this background that this chapter seeks to realise the following objectives: 1) To underscore the importance of efficient and renewable energy to produce electricity for the mitigation of climate change and sustainable development in Nigeria; 2) To provide an overview of the policy, legislative and regulatory measures available to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy as well as climate; change mitigation and adaptation in Nigeria; 3) To highlight the challenges and strategies to overcome the barriers to use and regulation of renewable and efficient energy for electricity in Nigeria.

Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development

Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development

Special Issue on Engineering Management for Sustainable Development

We are very pleased to introduce this special issue of the Journal of Management in Engineering, titled “Engineering Management for Sustainable Development.” From an academic and research focus, sustainability within the built environment has traditionally been closely linked to habitat preservation and recycling of construction materials. For the past decade, we have witnessed a remarkable proliferation of environmental stewardship practices and policies involving energy efficiency, water conservation, climate change, renewable portfolio standards, and other issues. These advances expand the boundary of engineering management research and pose grand challenges for managing engineering projects in the context of nature, society, and future generations. Sustainable development aims to create the conditions in which humans and the environment exist in productive harmony. Sustainability research across the built environment has been continuously evolving because of its very nature and its relative youth as an academic focus. With this special issue, we aim to capitalize on the trend toward sustainable development by documenting this evolution, especially in light of the interface between sustainability and engineering management from a broader perspective. We believe that it is important for both researchers and practitioners to get a better understanding of where we stand and where we are headed. Our motivation seemed fully justified when our call for papers yielded nearly 30 submissions by the deadline. In total, 11 manuscripts were accepted for publication. We selected nine of them for inclusion in the special issue. Because of editorial issues and space limitations, the other two will be published later in regular issues. We are grateful to the authors of the papers for being responsive to the needs and deadlines of the special issue. We also thank the authors of all of the other papers that were submitted to the special issue. Without their participation, this endeavor would not have been a success. We would also like to thank all the reviewers and the journal publishing office for their continued support. Their tireless efforts and prompt responses helped us commit ourselves to this undertaking. This special issue features a paper by Chris Hendrickson regarding the engineering management challenges for sustainable infrastructure development. His paper lays out the main characteristics of sustainable energy infrastructure and outlines three engineering management priorities—energy efficiency, land use, and engineering education—during the switch to sustainable engineering. The remaining eight papers are categorized into three groups according to the subject of the papers. The first group of two papers deals with the ecological impact analysis of infrastructure project. The first paper, by Stephen Comello, Michael Lepech, and Benedict Schwegler, presents a general framework for ecosystem service valuation of infrastructure projects. In the second paper, Florian Gschosser, Holger Wallbaum, and Michael Boesch analyze the ecological potential of pavement construction. Three papers in the second group focus on carbon accounting methodologies for various facilities and construction operations, including water pipeline projects by Kalyan Piratla, Samuel Ariaratnam, and Aaron Cohen; construction equipment operation by Phil Lewis, Michael Leming, and William Rasdorf; and educational facilities by TaeHoon Hong, HyunJoong Kim, and TaeHyun Kwak. The last group of papers emphasizes the role of renewable energy for sustainable development. The first paper, written by Maria Balatbat, Emily Findlay, and David Carmichael evaluates the performance risk of 227 renewable energy projects under the clean development mechanism. The second paper, by Dezhi Li, Eddie Chi Man Hui, Xing Xu, and Qiming Li, focuses on the sustainability assessment on metro systems on the basis of an energy-based methodology. In the last paper, Rahul Hiremath and Bimlesh Kumar examine the economic feasibility of bioenergy through linear goal programming. The group of papers in this special issue represents a cross section of engineering management issues associated with sustainable development. Yet the interface and interaction between engineering management issues and sustainability are much broader and even more complex. We hope the special issue can spur thoughtful discussions on the role of engineering management for sustainable development and therefore promote further research and wide participation in this field from the engineering management community.

06/02961 Renewable energy for sustainable development in Africa: a reviewBugaje, I. M. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2006, 10, (6), 603–612

06/02961 Renewable energy for sustainable development in Africa: a reviewBugaje, I. M. et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2006, 10, (6), 603–612

International Congress on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development: report on the concluding session

The International Congress on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development (ICORE-2004) was organized by the Solar Energy Society of India (SESI) in Bangalore from January 21 to 23, 2004. ICORE-2004 focussed on renewable energy initiatives for sustainable development of the world and our environment. It explored the most relevant renewable energy technologies and examined them in the context of current and future energy requirements. It analysed the benefits of adopting these technologies. It brought together investors, industries, developers, policy-makers, NGOs and utilities. This report refers to the deliberations of the concluding session, held on January 23, 2004. The Moderator of the session was Prof. Arcot Ramachandran. The panelists were Mr. A.M. Gokhale, Prof. Yogi Goswami, Mr. B.R. Prabhakara, Dr. V. Bakthavatsalam, Dr. Albrecht Kaupp, Mr. A.K. Vora, Mr. V. Balasubramanian, and Dr. Ajay Mathur. Their speeches were followed by a discussion. Each of these is summarised below.

Renewable energy: a response to climate change

“We recognize the importance of renewable energy for sustainable development, diversification of energy supply, and preservation of the environment. We will ensure that renewable energy sources are adequately considered in our national plans and encourage others to do so as well. We encourage continuing research and investment in renewable energy technology, throughout the world”. Communique from the G8 Leaders’ Summit, Genoa, July 2001. The Third Assessment Report of the IPCC confirmed that the Earth’s climate is changing as a result of human activities, particularly from energy use, and that further change is inevitable. Natural ecosystems are already adapting to change, some are under threat, and it is evident that human health and habitats will be affected world-wide. Such climate changes could also affect the present supplies of renewable energy sources and the performance and reliability of the conversion technologies. This paper concentrates on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the role that the global renewable energy industry might play in this regard. (The five other major greenhouse gases are given less emphasis here.) The paper compares the costs of renewable energy systems with fossil fuel-derived energy services and considers how placing a value on carbon emissions will help provide convergence. The move towards a de-carbonised world, driven partly by climate change science and partly by the business opportunities it offers, will need to occur sooner rather than later if an acceptable stabilisation level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is to be achieved. Government policy decisions made now will determine the sort of future world we wish our children to inherit. The renewable energy era has begun.

96/05178 Indian scenario of renewable energy for sustainable development

96/05178 Indian scenario of renewable energy for sustainable development

Indian scenario of renewable energy for sustainable development

This paper examines the renewable energy potential in India with special reference to the electricity sector, captures its perspectives through SWOT analysis and explores the possibilities of tailoring renewable energy to a sustainable development programme. Analysing the prospects sectorally, the paper concludes with a set of strategies and policy initiatives required for increased utilization of renewable energies aiming towards their gradual transition from mere additions to alternatives within a total energy mix that is more favourably disposed towards sustainable development.