Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Toward Sustainable Global Energy Production and Consumption

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Responsible Consumption and Production

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

  • 155 Accesses

Definition

The total amount of energy required to satisfy the global demand for energy services is defined as global energy use. Examples of energy services are the provision of thermal comfort, illumination, or the transportation of people and goods. A sustainable consumption of energy requires not only efficient transformation processes in the energy sector but also the minimization of resources consumed in the entire energy system, including the consumption of fossil energy resources, minerals, materials, goods, waste, land, and water. The ultimate goal is to meet the global demand for energy services with minimal negative impact at affordable prices. The SDGs most closely related to the problem in question are SDG 7 “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and SDG 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.”

Ensuring the Provision of Sustainable Energy Services at Global Scale

Introduction to the Topic and Current Trends

Human...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allwood JM, Cullen JM et al (2012) Sustainable materials with both eyes open. UIT Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer N, Calvin K, Emmerling J et al (2017) Shared socio-economic pathways of the energy sector – quantifying the narratives. Global Environ Chang 42:316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bringezu S, Potočnik J, Schandl H et al (2016) Multi-scale governance of sustainable natural resource use – challenges and opportunities for monitoring and institutional development at the national and global level. Sustainability 8:778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Mooney HA, Agard J et al (2009) Science for managing ecosystem services: beyond the millennium ecosystem assessment. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106:1305–1312

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chertow M (2004) Industrial symbiosis: literature and taxonomy. Annu Rev Energy Environ 25:313–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clift R, Druckman A (eds) (2016) Taking stock of industrial ecology. Springer, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  • COM (2015) A framework strategy for a resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate change policy. Communication from the European Commission COM(2015) 80 final. European Commission, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

  • Cullen JM, Allwood JM (2010) The efficient use of energy: tracing the global flow of energy from fuel to service. Energy Policy 38:75–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elvidge CD, Zhizhin M, Baugh K, Hsu F-C, Ghosh T (2016) Methods for global survey of natural gas flaring from visible infrared imaging radiometer suite data. Energies 9:14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2014) Walking the nexus talk: assessing the water-energy-food nexus in the context of the sustainable energy for all initiative. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • GEA (2012) Global energy assessment – toward a sustainable future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network (2018) Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/global.html. Accessed 27 July 2018

  • Grubler A, Wilson C, Nemet G (2016) Apples, oranges, and consistent comparisons of the temporal dynamics of energy transitions. Energy Res Soc Sci 22:18–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haas W, Krausmann F, Wiedenhofer D et al (2015) How circular is the global economy?: An assessment of material flows, waste production, and recycling in the European Union and the world in 2005. J Ind Ecol 19:765–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hertwich EG, Gibon T, Bouman EA et al (2015) Integrated life-cycle assessment of electricity-supply scenarios confirms global environmental benefit of low-carbon technologies. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:6277–6282

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Human Development Index (2016) Human development reports. http://hdr.undp.org/en/data. Accessed 27 July 2018

  • IEA (2016) Water-energy nexus in world energy outlook 2016. International Energy Agency, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • IEA DB (2018) International energy agency. https://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures/renewableenergy/. Accessed 27 July 2018

  • IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014 mitigation of climate change. Working group III contribution to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • IRENA (2018) Insights on planning for power system regulators. International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi

    Google Scholar 

  • IRP (2017) Green technology choices: the environmental and resource implications of low-carbon technologies. A report of the International Resource Panel. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen NB (2006) Industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg, Denmark – a quantitative assessment of economic and environmental aspects. J Ind Ecol 10:239–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin B, Okamura S, Nakamura Y et al (2016) Status of the “Kumejima Model” for advanced deep seawater utilization. In: 2016 Techno-Ocean (Techno-Ocean 2016). IEEE, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill BC, Kriegler E, Ebi KL et al (2017) The roads ahead: narratives for shared socioeconomic pathways describing world futures in the 21st century. Global Environ Chang 42:169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riahi K, van Vuuren DP, Kriegler E et al (2017) The shared socioeconomic pathways and their energy, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions implications: an overview. Global Environ Chang 42:153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SDG Report (2018) Progress towards the sustainable development goals, report of the secretary-general, supplementary information. E/2018/64∗. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2018/secretary-general-sdg-report-2018%2D%2DStatistical-Annex.pdf. Accessed 1 June 2019

  • Smil V (2003) Energy at the crossroads: global perspectives and uncertainties. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Soltanieh M, Zohbarian A, Gholipour MJ, Kalnay E (2016) A review of global gas flaring and venting and impact on the environment: case study of Iran. Int J Greenhouse Gas Control 49:488–509

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sovacool BK (2016) How long will it take? Conceptualizing the temporal dynamics of energy transitions. Energy Res Soc Sci 13:202–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SRREN (2011) Special report on renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Steffen W, Richardson K, Rockström J et al (2015) Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet. Science 347:1259855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The World Bank DataBank (2018) The World Bank. http://databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx. Accessed 27 July 2018

  • Trainor AM, McDonald RI, Fargione J (2016) Energy sprawl is the largest driver of land use change in United States. PLoS One 11:e0162269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNEP (2013) Guidelines for National waste management strategies moving from challenges to opportunities. Accessed 27 July 2018

    Google Scholar 

  • UNEP (2014) Decoupling 2: technologies, opportunities and policy options. A report of the working group on decoupling to the International Resource Panel. von Weizsäcker, E.U., de Larderel, J, Hargroves, K., Hudson, C., Smith, M., Rodrigues, M

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Bergen, Norway

    Valeria Jana Schwanitz & August Wierling

Authors
  1. Valeria Jana Schwanitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. August Wierling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valeria Jana Schwanitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Science, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Ctr Neurosci & Cell Biology, 1 Floor, Univ Coimbra, Edf Fac Medicina, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökcin Özuyar

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Senior Economic Consultant (Independent); and EmergingFrontierMarkets.com (Publisher), Manila, Philippines

    Leonardo Sta. Romana

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Schwanitz, V.J., Wierling, A. (2019). Toward Sustainable Global Energy Production and Consumption. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_73-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_73-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71062-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71062-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation