The Nexus of World Electricity and Global Sustainable Development

Veronika Wittmann, Elif Arici and Dieter Meissner
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Veronika Wittmann: Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics & Business, Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria
Elif Arici: Energy Institute, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, Turkey
Dieter Meissner: Department of Materials and Environmental Technology, TalTech, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: The main part of mankind’s ecological footprint is the carbon footprint, a measure of the environmental impact of humanity’s energy release from fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels will have to change in the forthcoming decades to a largely climate-neutral use of solar energy enabled by dramatic cost reductions for PV and wind energy systems. The impact of this trend on world society has been discussed in a previous paper. In connection with these important technical developments, the role of electricity, its transport and storage will alter in the coming decades, allowing the design and use of larger and larger electricity grids and a parallel use of hydrogen for both storage and energy transport. This will further change the energy landscape of the world. All these developments and their relationship to global sustainable development are elaborated in this cross-disciplinary paper by specifically analyzing whether the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations are an effective road map for humanity to handle global climate change risks.

Keywords: energy; electricity grid; hydrogen; renewables; Sustainable Development Goals; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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