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Energy for Sustainable Development
The Journal of the International
Energy Initiative
© 2007, International Energy
Initiative, Inc.
ISSN: 0973-0826
Energy for Sustainable Development (ESD)
addresses a range of issues, including:
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technologies of energy conversion and transmission, and of
energy utilisation,
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goals, such as the extension of access to energy services,
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policies, including the increased use of renewable sources,
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strategies, bridging the gap between energy supply and
demand, through improved resource
utilisation and efficiency of use,
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impacts of energy use on people and the environment, and
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lessons from field demonstrations, including management and
financing.
From time to time,
issues are devoted to specific themes and selected countries.
Recent special issues include
International Bioenergy Trade and
Development,
Biofuels for Transport,
and
Climate Change Mitigation and
Sustainable Development.
Historical perspective
The International Energy Initiative
was founded by Professors José Goldemberg, Thomas Johansson,
Amulya Reddy and Robert Williams, authors of Energy for a
Sustainable World (Wiley Eastern Limited, 1988). At the
time the book was published, thinking about energy was
dominated by a supply-oriented paradigm, with economic
development equated to economic growth, in turn equated to
centralized power production.
Energy for Sustainable World
(ESW) marked a major departure from this paradigm,
dominant at the time. The most important finding was that
“it is possible to formulate
energy strategies which are not only compatible with, but even
contribute to, the solution of other major global problems…
“The formulation of such energy
strategies (requires) shifting the focus of energy analysis
from the traditional preoccupation with energy supplies to the
end-uses of energy. In this end-use approach, much closer
attention is paid to… human needs served by energy, the
technical and economic details of how energy is being used and
alternative technological options for providing the (needed)
energy services.”
The concept of sustainable
development has since become well entrenched, initially
through the Brundtland Report (Our Common Future,
Oxford University Press, 1987), and later through the 1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio
de Janeiro). Many international organizations and governments
have also now embraced sustainable energy policies.
Nevertheless, 20 years after the
publication of ESW, Energy for Sustainable Development
is still the only journal dealing with key aspects of
sustainable development in the context of energy, especially
for developing countries.
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