Sustainability 2010, 2(3), 783-811; doi:10.3390/su2030783
Review

Contribution of Renewable Energy Sources to the Sustainable Development of Islands: An Overview of the Literature and a Research Agenda

Loraima Jaramillo-Nieves 1 email and Pablo Del Río 2,* email
1 University Institute of Environment Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain 2 Institute for Public Goods and Policies (IPP), Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), C/Albasanz 26-28, Madrid 28037, Spain
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 8 February 2010; in revised form: 3 March 2010 / Accepted: 12 March 2010 / Published: 17 March 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Sustainability)
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Abstract: Renewable energy sources (RES) have significant potential to contribute to the economic, social and environmental energy sustainability of small islands. They improve access to energy for most of the population, they also reduce emissions of local and global pollutants and they may create local socioeconomic development opportunities. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the contribution of RES to the energy sustainability of islands, focusing on the main results and the methodologies used. Papers are classified according to their coverage of the three dimensions of the triangular approach to sustainability (economic, environmental and social). The review also takes into account whether and how the procedural sustainability has been tackled in those papers. It is acknowledged that although several topics have been covered by the existing literature, there are promising avenues for future research on several fronts, both thematic and methodological.
Keywords: sustainable development; renewable energy; islands

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MDPI and ACS Style

Jaramillo-Nieves, L.; Del Río, P. Contribution of Renewable Energy Sources to the Sustainable Development of Islands: An Overview of the Literature and a Research Agenda. Sustainability 2010, 2, 783-811.

AMA Style

Jaramillo-Nieves L, Del Río P. Contribution of Renewable Energy Sources to the Sustainable Development of Islands: An Overview of the Literature and a Research Agenda. Sustainability. 2010; 2(3):783-811.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jaramillo-Nieves, Loraima; Del Río, Pablo. 2010. "Contribution of Renewable Energy Sources to the Sustainable Development of Islands: An Overview of the Literature and a Research Agenda." Sustainability 2, no. 3: 783-811.

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