Energy

Energy is a central component of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), explicitly reflected in SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. However, the theme of energy cuts across multiple SDGs, demonstrating the interconnectivity of these global goals.

SDG 7's objective is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Energy, in its various forms, is a vital driver of economic growth and is pivotal to nearly all aspects of development. Without a steady and reliable supply of energy, societies can hardly progress. However, millions of people around the world still lack access to modern and clean energy services. The emphasis on "affordable and clean" energy within this goal shows the need to transition from traditional energy sources, often characterized by high environmental costs, to more sustainable ones like wind, solar, and hydropower.

Energy's role is also significant in achieving other SDGs. For example, SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, emphasizes the need for sustainable and resilient infrastructure with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean technologies. It is almost impossible to achieve this without a sustainable energy framework. Similarly, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, calls for making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, and one of its targets (11.6) directly refers to the environmental impact of cities, for which energy is a key factor.

Furthermore, energy is a crucial player in SDG 13: Climate Action. The energy sector represents the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning to a sustainable energy future, therefore, is critical for tackling climate change. Efforts to reduce emissions and promote clean energy sources are crucial to mitigate climate change and its impacts.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional,

LexisNexis France, Lexis360, Collectivités Territoriales, 13 February 2017

In France, the law on the development of wind farms has undergone major reform over the last few years aimed at easing regulation to remove existing barriers to the transition to a low carbon economy and to simplify financing. This practice note provides detailed guidance on the current regulations, as they apply to existing wind farms and to the development of new wind farms. Wind power is critical to SDG 7.2 to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

Texte en français.
With Sustainable Development Goal 7, the United Nations has declared its ambition to ensure access to modern energy for all by 2030. Aside from broad appeals to differentiated responsibilities and ‘greener’ technologies, however, the goal leaves significant procedural questions unaddressed. This paper argues that the basic orientation of this approach is problematic, undermining possibilities for progress toward energy justice and equitable development.
Uncertainties in evaluating bioenergy projects have lead policymakers to adopt a restrictive approach or even refuse to evaluate projects when the available information is limited or a clear perception of its benefits and impact is lacking. Indeed, despite its potential advantages, a bioenergy system poses several conceptual and operational challenges for academic as well as practical scrutiny because the inherent relationship and the intersection of areas related to energy production and agricultural activity requires a deeply integrated assessment.
Given the challenge of offering a development perspective to a rapidly growing population, it might be tempting for Africa to pursue a strategy of fueling growth with the cheapest source of energy available and take care of the environment later. Such an approach, however, would disregard the social cost of fossil fuels, which the population would have to bear. Using the Sustainable Development Goals as a benchmark for inclusive and sustainable growth we identify the synergy effects provided by renewable energy.
Global anthropogenic activities resulting in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere have increased the challenges faced from climate change. The greater awareness of the need to mitigate climate variability has brought about intense focus on the adverse impacts of fossil-fuel based energy on the environment. Being the single largest source of carbon emissions, energy supply has attracted much attention and more so that, climate change impacts extend beyond national boundaries.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are being developed to comply with the intensification of environmental laws and policies. Techniques for carbon capture from exhaust gases include post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxy-combustion. CO2 separation in gas processing is also a relevant application, employing alternatives commonly used in post-combustion, sharing developments and pulling innovations (additional to innovations pushed by knowledge from basic and applied research).
An effective response to climate change demands rapid replacement of fossil carbon energy sources. This must occur concurrently with an ongoing rise in total global energy consumption. While many modelled scenarios have been published claiming to show that a 100% renewable electricity system is achievable, there is no empirical or historical evidence that demonstrates that such systems are in fact feasible. Of the studies published to date, 24 have forecast regional, national or global energy requirements at sufficient detail to be considered potentially credible.
Elsevier,

Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 28, 1 January 2017

This paper discusses the CO2 footprint of California's drought during 2012–2014. We show that California drought significantly increased CO2 emissions of the energy sector by around 22 million metric tons, indicating 33% increase in the annual CO2 emissions compared to pre-drought conditions. We argue that CO2 emission of climate extremes deserve more attention, because their cumulative impacts on CO2 emissions are staggering. Most countries, including the United States, do not have a comprehensive a nationwide energy-water plan to minimize their CO2 emissions.

The efficient utilization of clean energy resources to meet increasing electricity demand is imposing the integration of the electricity market and the construction of secure transmission mechanisms around the globe. Accordingly, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is integrating its large geographical power transmission infrastructure via the ASEAN power grid (APG). This study extensively reviews the energy resources (i.e., fossil fuels and renewables), the current utilization, and the future projection for ASEAN.

Elsevier,

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 71, 2017

In this paper, five most emerging renewable energy sources are analyzed. These emerging renewables are either special or advanced forms of the mainstream energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, biomass, and hydro) or brand new technologies. The five emerging renewable technologies discussed in this paper include marine energy, concentrated solar photovoltaics (CSP), enhanced geothermal energy (EGE), cellulosic ethanol, and artificial photosynthesis.

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