A worldwide perspective on energy, environment and sustainable development

Problems with energy supply and use are related not only to global warming, but also to such environmental concerns as air pollution, ozone depletion forest destruction and emission of radioactive substances. These issues mus t be taken into consideration simultaneously if humanity is to achieve a br ight energy future with minimal environmental impacts. Much evidence exists which suggests that the future will be negatively impacted if humans keep degrading the environment. There is an intimate connection between energy, the environment and sustainable development. A society seeking sustainable development ideally must utilize only energy resources which cause no envir onmental impact (e.g. which release no emissions to the environment). Howev er, since all energy resources lead to some environmental impact, it is rea sonable to suggest that some (not all) of the concerns regarding the limita tions imposed on sustainable development by environmental emissions and the ir negative impacts can be in part overcome through increased energy effici ency. A strong relation clearly exists between energy efficiency and enviro nmental impact since, for the same services or products, less resource util ization and pollution is normally associated with higher efficiency process es. Anticipated patterns of future energy use and consequent environmental impact (focusing on acid precipitation, stratospheric ozone depletion and t he greenhouse effect) are comprehensively discussed in this paper. Also, so me solutions to current environmental issues in terms of energy conservatio n and renewable energy technologies are identified and some theoretical and practical limitations on increased energy efficiency are explained. The re lations between energy and sustainable development, and between the environ ment and sustainable development, are described, and an illustrative exampl e is presented. Throughout the paper several issues relating to energy, env ironment and sustainable development are examined from both current and fut ure perspectives. Finally, several conclusions and recommendations are draw n which may be useful to energy scientists and engineers and policy makers. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.