9.2 Interactions between sustainable development and renewable energies
[...]
9.2.1 Framework of Chapter 9 and linkages to other chapters of this report
[...]
This set of opportunities can be viewed as goals that should be achieved for RE to contribute to SD. As will be discussed in the following section, the potential of RE to increase access to modern energy technologies can facilitate social and economic development. Energy access and social and economic development measures relate to current well-being and to some extent to intra-generational equity and sustainability, for example, through an emphasis on energy-related equity questions, including gender equity and empowerment. The potential contribution of RE to energy security, climate change mitigation and the reduction of environmental impacts addresses more explicitly the intertemporal and intergenerational well-being aspect inherent in sustainability. Energy access, social and economic development and energy security concerns are very often considered under the weak sustainability paradigm, because trade-offs are taken into account allowing for a balance between these goals. Environmental impacts, on the other hand, are usually evaluated under the strong sustainability paradigm because they are very often understood as constraints for transformation pathways. To enable responsible decision making, it is crucial to understand the implications and possible trade-offs of SD goals that result from alternative energy system choices.
[...]
9.3 Social, environmental and economic impacts: global and regional assessment
[...]
9.3.1 Social and economic development
[...]
9.3.1.2 Human Development
Index and energy As already mentioned in Section 9.2.2, the industrialized societies’ improvements in the quality of life have so far been mainly based on the exploitation of non-RE sources (while noting the important role of hydropower during the early stages of industrialization, as well as for many developing countries today). Apart from its signifi cance for productive purposes, access to clean and reliable energy constitutes an important prerequisite for fundamental determinants of human development including health, education, gender equality and environmental safety (UNDP, 2007).
[...]
9.3.2 Energy access
Significant parts of the global population today have no or limited access to modern and clean energy services. From a SD perspective, a sustainable energy expansion needs to increase the availability of energy services to groups that currently have no or limited access to them: the poor (measured by wealth, income or more integrative indicators), those in rural areas and those without connections to the grid. For households, the impacts from polluting and inefficient energy services on women have often been recognized (A. Reddy et al., 2000; Agbemabiese, 2009; Brew-Hammond, 2010).
[...]
9.3.4 Climate change mitigation and reduction of environmental and health impacts
[...]
9.3.4.3 Health impacts
Many health problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cataracts and pneumonia are most severe for women and children, which are most exposed to indoor emissions (Smith et al., 2000; Pokhrel et al., 2005; Barnes et al., 2009; Haines et al., 2009; UNDP and WHO, 2009), and generally affect the poorest segment of the population (see Section 9.3.2).
[...]
9.4 Implications of (sustainable) development pathways for renewable energy
[...]
9.4.2 Energy access
[...]
9.4.2.2 Research gaps
Any sustainable energy expansion should increase availability of energy services to groups that currently tend to have less access to them: the poor (measured by wealth, income or more integrative indicators), those in rural areas, those without connections to the grid, and women (UNDP/ UNDESA/WEC, 2000). From a development perspective, the distribution in the use and availability of energy technologies, and how they might change over time, is of fundamental importance in evaluating the potential for improvement in access (Baer, 2009). Since expanding access requires multiple changes in technology and the way services are delivered, understanding the starting distribution as well as the changes over time is necessary to evaluate the potential increase in access in one scenario relative to another. A second confounding factor in using model output to evaluate changes in access is the inability of many models to capture social phenomena and structural changes that underlie peoples’ utilization of energy technologies.
These two aspects—lack of distributional resolution and structural rigidity—present particular challenges for integrated models. Models have historically focused much more on the technological and macroeconomic aspects of energy transitions, and in the process have produced largely aggregated measures of technological penetration or energy generated by particular sources of supply (Parson et al., 2007). Such measures can, of course, be useful for making broad comparisons, such as the relative share of low-carbon energy across countries. However, an explicit representation of the energy consequences for the poorest, women, specific ethnic groups within countries, or those in specific geographical areas, tends to be outside the range of current global model output.
[...]
9.5 Barriers and opportunities for renewable energies in the context of sustainable development
[...]
9.5.2 Opportunities
[...]
9.5.2.2 Local, private and nongovernmental sustainable development initiatives
Involvement of community-based organizations can mitigate local opposition to RE installations by facilitating local ownership and sharing of benefi ts (Rogers et al., 2008; Zografakis et al., 2009). The creation of local energy markets can provide opportunities for local private investors (Hvelplund, 2006) and thereby ensure public acceptance of integrating an increasing number of local RE installations (windmills, solar panels, biogas plants etc.) into the energy system. Positive impacts on the local economy further improve public attitudes towards RE developments (Jobert et al., 2007; Maruyama et al., 2007; Aitken, 2010; Warren and McFadyen, 2010). Case studies evaluating the success of wind energy projects in France and Germany found that the familiarity of the developer with local circumstances and concerns (Jobert et al., 2007) as well as transparency, provision of information and participation of the local population in the planning process from the early stages on (Wolsink, 2007a) are crucial factors for public acceptance. In the context of developing countries, this also includes the empowerment of rural women in order to seek the best solutions for community energy needs (Omer, 2003; Oikonomou et al., 2009; A. Singh, 2009).
