Energy and Environmental Impacts: Present and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Today, world energy consumption contributes to pollution, environmental deterioration, and global greenhouse emissions. Increases in energy consumption are driven by population growth and economic development that tend to increase energy use per capita. Thus the inevitable increase in population in the near future and the economic development that must necessarily occur in many countries pose serious implications for the environment. Since the early 1980s the relationship between energy use and environmental impacts has received much attention, and a number of international activities have focused on this topic. In this article, four important aspects that are related to the present and future patterns of environmental impacts, energy consumption, energy conservation, and fuel substitution are introduced and discussed in detail. We conclude that further political, economic, and institutional changes from the standpoint of environmental impacts are necessary for the future energy policies. To this end, renewable energy resources can play an important role in controlling and reducing environmental impact.