Sustainable energy technologies for the Global South: challenges and solutions toward achieving SDG 7

Andrew Ng Kay Lup*, Vikram Soni, Benjamin Keenan, Jaewon Son, Mohammad Ramezani Taghartapeh, Marcelo Menezes Morato, Yalinu Poya, Rubén M. Montañésjk

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    7 Citations (Scopus)
    24 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The United Nations (UN) expectations for 2030 account for a renewable, affordable, and eco-friendly energy future. The 2030 agenda includes 17 different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for countries worldwide. In this work, the 7th SDG: Affordable and Clean Energy, is brought into focus. For this goal, five main challenges are discussed: (i) limiting the use of fossil fuels; (ii) migrating towards diversified and renewable energy matrices; (iii) decentralizing energy generation and distribution; (iv) maximizing energy and energy storage efficiency; and (v) minimizing energy generation costs of chemical processes. These challenges are thoroughly scrutinized and surveyed in the context of recent developments and technologies including energy planning and supervision tools employed in the Global South. The discussion of these challenges in this work shows that the realization of SDG 7, whether partially or in full, within the Global South and global contexts, is possible only if existing technologies are fully implemented with the necessary international and national policies. Among the key solutions identified in addressing the five main challenges of SDG 7 are a global climate agreement; increased use of non-fossil fuel energy sources; Global North assistance and investment; reformed global energy policies; smart grid technologies and real time optimization and automation technologies.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)570-585
    Number of pages16
    JournalEnvironmental Science: Advances
    Volume2
    Issue number4
    Early online date6 Feb 2023
    DOIs
    Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 6 Feb 2023

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Sustainable energy technologies for the Global South: challenges and solutions toward achieving SDG 7'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this