Global Energy Assessment - Toward a Sustainable Future

Toward a Sustainable Future, 2009

2012

2014

This Energy Primer aims at a basic-level introduction to fundamental concepts and data that help to understand energy systems holistically and to provide a common conceptual and terminological framework before examining in greater detail the various aspects of energy systems be them technological, economic, or environmental. As such the text aims to provide a basic introductory reader suitable for the core content of any introductory-level energy class or as framing complement to more specialized energy classes. Customary energy texts usually focus on describing current energy industries through a supply side perspective, which this Energy Primer does not intend to duplicate. (In depth treatments of energy supply and industry aspects of energy systems are provided in Chapters 11 to 15 of the Global Energy Assessment, all available online.

2012

Toward a Sustainable Future, 2009

2012

Environment & Policy, 2012

Energy systems and attendant institutions have long-term characteristics basic to the development of economies and societies. Mankind faces a wide range of serious problems connected to the world energy system. All players involved must find a delicate balance between flexibility and stability, between the demand for urgent change and the need for stable, lasting solutions. The following sections provide an introductory overview of the energy-related challenges Access and Security, Climate Change and other Environmental Impacts, and Economic and Social Development. These challenges and their interconnections are explored in depth in later chapters. The problems that planners must deal with are wicked and incorrigible ones, for they defy efforts to delineate their boundaries and to identify their causes, and thus to expose their problematic nature. The planner who works with open systems is caught up in the ambiguity of their causal webs.

Academic Press, 2020

Energy is an indispensable prerequisite for performing work. The availability of energy is an important driver for economic prosperity. The global industrial revolution has contributed to huge developments with social implications and economic growth. For decades, coal, oil, and natural gas have been the energy resources provisioned as fuels for energy. The crude price of fossil fuels today might cause difficulties in meeting rising demand in coming years while the cost of exploiting them will become higher as resources are depleted and the cost to extract them increases (Ritchie and Roser, 2018) (Hasanuzzaman et al., 2012). Furthermore, issues regarding the global climate have led to increased attention by many countries on policy research especially regarding the aspects of energy sustainability and uses of natural resources (Kester, Moyer, & Song, 2015).