Sustainable and Renewable Energy Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The relationship between fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions is well established, with strong evidence that anthropogenic emissions are the primary cause of climate change [1]. It is currently estimated that about 25,000 GW of low-carbon energy will be required by 2050 to accomplish the international community’s ambition of reducing CO₂ emissions, to mitigate the pernicious effects of climate change [2]. Renewable energy systems (RES) will therefore play a decisive and vital role through the supply of a significant fraction of the future energy supply mix, providing a uniquely attractive contribution to the world’s environmental sustainability and energy security challenges [3-5]. The quest for sustainable energy systems constitutes a major part of national and global energy policies [6] and will therefore continue to dominate the twenty-first century research, business and policy agendas.

The deployment of increasingly renewable energy options continues to expand rapidly, with electricity generation from RES currently accounting for half of additional global energy generation. This is buoyed by declining costs and, in some cases, by dedicated policy initiatives and/or subsidies. Despite this, present and future advancements in RES present uncertainties in terms of technical, policy and various triple bottom line sustainability dimensions.

This Special Issue, therefore, seeks to contribute to the renewable energy agenda through enhanced scientific and multi-disciplinary knowledge to improve performance and deployment by harnessing the shifting energy landscape in order to meet technical, socio-economic and environmental goals, as well as for energy security. We therefore invite contributions on innovative technical developments, reviews, case studies, analysis, and assessment from different disciplines, which are relevant to sustainable and renewable energy systems.

REFERENCES:

1. IPCC, Climate change 2014: mitigation of climate change. Vol. 3. 2015: Cambridge University Press.
2. Energy Initiative Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Future of Solar Energy- an interdisciplinary MIT study. 2015 [cited 2015 10th November]; Available from: https://mitei.mit.edu/system/files/MIT%20Future%20of%20Solar%20Energy%20Study_compressed.pdf.
3. U.S. Department of Energy. Does the world have enough materials for PV to help address climate change? 2005 [cited 2015 10th November 2015].
4. García‐Valverde, R., J.A. Cherni, and A. Urbina, Life cycle analysis of organic photovoltaic technologies. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 2010. 18(7): p. 535-558.
5. Cucchiella, F., et al., Renewable energy options for buildings: Performance evaluations of integrated photovoltaic systems. Energy and Buildings, 2012. 55: p. 208-217.
6. Ibn-Mohammed, T., et al., Perovskite solar cells: An integrated hybrid lifecycle assessment and review in comparison with other photovoltaic technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017. 80: p. 1321-1344.

Dr. Adolf Acquaye
Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed
Guest Editors

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