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A Critical Review of Sustainable Energy Policies for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources

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  • Yuehong Lu

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243002, China)

  • Zafar A. Khan

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur (A.K.) 10250, Pakistan)

  • Manuel S. Alvarez-Alvarado

    (Faculty of Engineering in Electricity and Computing, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Guayaquil 09-01-5863, Ecuador)

  • Yang Zhang

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243002, China)

  • Zhijia Huang

    (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243002, China)

  • Muhammad Imran

    (Mechanical Engineering Department, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK)

Abstract

Meeting the rising energy demand and limiting its environmental impact are the two intertwined issues faced in the 21st century. Governments in different countries have been engaged in developing regulations and related policies to encourage environment friendly renewable energy generation along with conservation strategies and technological innovations. It is important to develop sustainable energy policies and provide relevant and suitable policy recommendations for end-users. This study presents a review on sustainable energy policy for promotion of renewable energy by introducing the development history of energy policy in five countries, i.e., the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and China. A survey of the articles aimed at promoting the development of sustainable energy policies and their modelling is carried out. It is observed that energy-efficiency standard is one of the most popular strategy for building energy saving, which is dynamic and renewed based on the current available technologies. Feed-in-tariff has been widely applied to encourage the application of renewable energy, which is demonstrated successfully in different countries. Building energy performance certification schemes should be enhanced in terms of reliable database system and information transparency to pave the way for future net-zero energy building and smart cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuehong Lu & Zafar A. Khan & Manuel S. Alvarez-Alvarado & Yang Zhang & Zhijia Huang & Muhammad Imran, 2020. "A Critical Review of Sustainable Energy Policies for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-31, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5078-:d:374731
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