Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Directly contributing to SDGs 7 (affordable and clean energy), 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 13 (climate action), this Elsevier Atlas Award winning article analyses the feasibility of powering the Americas with renewable energy by 2030.
To achieve SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (climate action) we need reliable and robust renewable energy sources. Solar photovoltaics (PV) is a very promising and rapidly growing technology (particularly in the developing world), but one of the problems of solar panels is that they “soil” – ie over time they become damaged by dust / pollution / animal waste / moss etc, and this limits their performance. This Joule study is the most accurate analysis of the impact of soiling, and sets out a pathway to how soiling can be mitigated.
This piece provides insights into what has caused solar photovoltaic costs to fall so rapidly, such that in many parts of the world solar power plants are now more economical than coal- or gas-fired plants. This relates directly to SDG 7 (affordable & clean energy).
Contributing to SDG 13 (climate action), this rigorous study shows that renewable electricity systems could work equally well in both historical and future climates, despite changing weather patterns.
A total of 1.8–4.1 billion people are potentially exposed to heat stress due to lack of access to cooling energy systems. This study develops a comprehensive measure of energy access by introducing the dimension of space cooling. This research has direct implications for human health and wellbeing (SDG 3), and interacts with SDGs 7 (affordable and clean energy) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities).
Goal 7 sets a target to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030. Nominated for the Elsevier Atlas Award in March 2018, this article looks at wind energy in Brazil and examines the approaches taken, such as investment coordination mechanisms, that have reduced risks enough to make wind energy a viable option.
A tool to evaluate energy key performance indicators in a neighbourhood has been developed, linking overall climate goals to local measures. Contributing to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities), this research provides decision making support in energy planning.
To achieve goals 7 and 13, we need more renewable energy, and yet the intermittency of renewable sources like wind or solar power means there is a pressing need to develop effective energy storage systems. This Joule study analyses the application-specific lifetime cost for a range of different electricity storage technologies. The analysis strongly suggests that specialized technologies are unlikely to compete with lithium ion battery storage for nearly all applications.
This article explores SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production). The distinctive characteristics, self-efficiency or external dependency of energy demand’s water footprint in China’s two biggest and fastest developing megalopolises are explored.
This paper advances SDGs 9 and 12 by investigating the construction of strategies aiming to up-scale low-carbon innovations from pilot to full commercial scale. The authors reveal that the growth plans conveyed in the roadmaps are overly optimistic and they call for policy rooted in realistic expectations and adequate to the phase of innovation.
