Sustainable urban planning for a successful energy transition on Reunion Island: From policy intentions to practical achievement

Numerous studies have investigated how small vulnerable territories are adapting to climate change, particularly non-interconnected islands with focus on Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and self-sufficiency. A key to success is an energy plan with appropriate policy tools. This paper first presents a discussion on barriers to RES deployment. Then, we present the energy situation and the legislative energy framework in Reunion Island. Are the legislative and policy frameworks sufficient to achieve the energy transition? This paper proposes an original view discussing the potential of a territory and available tools to develop RES. Energy transition is also view as an opportunity.     

Sustainability and the impact of Chinese policy initiatives upon construction

The environment has been perceived as an international issue, and ways of attaining sustainability are becoming important for countries seeking sustainable development. The international community has been active in developing policy frameworks towards achieving the sustainability, such as an ecological modernization approach and environment assessment. Developing countries deserve special attention in the effort to make sustainability an operative criterion in their development activities. Given the difficulties that developing countries are facing, their perceptions of the concept and principles of sustainability differ in various contexts from those of developed countries, and the attainment of sustainability is much more difficult. Therefore, the establishment of a global partnership is important for the vision of sustainability to be realized and operationalized in the world. The current stage of economic development in China provides an opportunity to incorporate environmental provisions into the national development strategies from a relatively early stage, rather than attempt retrofit to strategies. However, at present China's policy initiatives expressed in its Agenda 21 remains only a visionary concept. A comprehensive policy framework and realistic implementation measures are needed. The environmental impacts of the construction industry are extensive, particularly in developing countries. However, as in many developing countries, China's sustainable construction is still at its primary stage and current practice is unsatisfactory.     

Exploring options for a 100% renewable energy system in Mauritius by 2050

This paper aims at critically analyzing the present and the proposed energy resource mix in Mauritius in order to make recommendations for a 100% renewable energy system for the island by 2050. While the Long Term Energy Strategy for the period 2009–2025 devised by the Government of Mauritius sets pathways for the future in a sustainable manner, it does not evaluate the feasibility of the options that will help in supporting this transition. Its scope is limited as the proposed framework aims at achieving only 35% self-sufficiency in terms of electricity supply by 2025 against 20% currently. This paper explores the main building blocks of a new energy paradigm by extending the analysis to 2050 in view of identifying systemic and holistic policies and strategies that will pave the way to a clean and efficient energy supply. Most notably, we look beyond electricity only to assess the energy system comprehensively in terms alternative resources for primary uses, including energy-intensive transportation and cooling. Ultimately, it also enhances the near-term energy framework by setting more ambitious green energy targets as a stepping-stone towards 100% energy self-sufficiency by 2050.     

The Dutch sustainable building policy: A model for developing countries?

This article explores the institutionalization of environmental policies in the Dutch building sector and the applicability of the current model to developing countries. First, it analyzes the transition of sustainable building practices in the Netherlands from the 1970s until today, exploring how these were originally embedded in a discourse on ‘de-modernization’, which attempted to improve the environmental performance of building stocks by means of self-sufficient technologies, whereas nowadays they adopt a framework of ‘ecological modernization’, with integrative approaches seeking to improve the environmental performance of building stocks through more efficient—rather than self-sufficient—technologies. The study subsequently shows how the current Dutch sustainable building framework has thereby managed to achieve a pragmatic and widely accepted rationale, which can serve to orient the ecological restructuring of building stocks in developing countries.     

Economic feasibility of a Dispatchable Standby Generator scheme for the island of Mauritius

This paper presents the economic feasibility study of having a Dispatchable Standby Generator (SG) scheme for the island of Mauritius. The total available SG capacity in the year 2016 was at least 157.4 MVA. Using the forecasted electricity demand, it is estimated that the SGs can supply the island's peak load more economically than the Nicolay power station. Despite the high diesel price, the proposed strategy would be highly profitable as from the first year of operation with a feed-in-tariff of 2.0 MUR/kWh, while simultaneously delaying investment from the Central Electricity Board to increase the generation capacity for the island.     

Sustainable construction in China: status quo and trends

The structural challenges facing China's construction industry are reviewed here. China's current practical intitatives, barriers and problems in moving towards sustainable development are considered: demonstration ecological villages, innovative walling materials, research on passive solar buildings and the improvement of earth buildings.     

Effects of income inequality and governance on energy poverty alleviation: Implications for sustainable development policy

This paper examines the effects of income inequality and governance on access to electricity using a panel of 43 SSA countries from 1990 to 2017. The results from the two-step GMM estimator revealed that while income inequality substantially reduced access to electricity, governance has been ineffective in improving it. The findings showed that governance interacts with income inequality and economic growth to reduce access to electricity. Comparative analysis suggested that these findings vary among the SSA sub-regions. We argue that energy poverty alleviation requires firm political will and an effective governance system to close the income inequality gap.     

21世纪城市：可持续发展及面临的挑战

在“21世纪城市”国际会议上发表的专家报告认为,在21世纪世界的未来发展取决于城市发展。城市的可持续发展,特别是不同地区的城市在经济社会发展和环境保护方面的协调,以及与城市居住、基础设施和交通建设等方面的协调,是解决城市未来发展问题的核心。加强国家和地方两个层次上的可持续发展策略的合作,是实现城市可持续发展的关键。为此,报告特别强调完善城市管理是实现城市可持续发展目标的最主要的中心任务。     

Sustainability: Reviewing Australia's progress, 1992-2002

In late 2002, nations will meet for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and review a decade of progress since the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992. This anniversary also presents an opportunity to review domestic policy progress, such as that of Australia in the ten years since its 1992 National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). This paper reviews the past decade of environmental policy and progress to ESD in Australia, noting some globally significant advances as well as under-achievement. The paper identifies two reasons for under-achievement: the unprecedented nature and difficulty of sustainability problems, and the lack of suitable policy processes and institutional arrangements to address these, and suggests policy and institutional reforms.     

Sustainable development of renewable energy on Wangan Island,Taiwan

This study investigated the potential of achieving energy autonomy in Wangan Island, based on the use of renewable energy. The simulation results of air pollutants indicate that there could be a 30–40% reduction in emissions because of an improvement in energy efficiency. The reduction of CO₂ emissions exceeded 50% in two scenarios of energy integration systems after energy efficiency was improved. Renewables could replace costly diesel for electricity generation on Wangan, and become a successful condition example of sustainable development. Roadmaps are needed for Wangan to scale up its applications of renewables, whether in the power or transportation sectors. This requires support from central government and reform in regulatory arrangements in the energy sector.     

可持续雨水管理导向下的澳大利亚住区设计

可持续雨水管理是全面解决城市雨水问题的重要途径。本文归纳可持续雨水管理的目标与措施,分析其赋予住区设计的全新任务,总结澳大利亚新建住区整合设计的基本进程与具体做法,并通过案例分析展示不同场地条件下可持续雨水管理对于澳大利亚新建住区设计的影响。     

城市可持续的土地规划

土地和能源是制约中国城市发展的两个最大的资源瓶颈.应通过发展都市圈战略以大幅度减少城市间的交通需求、减小区域性交通基础设施的占地规模,提高现有城市土地利用强度以在有限的空间里容纳尽可能多的城市人口,优先发展公共交通和轨道交通以节省能源等方式实现城市的可持续发展.     

遗产保护:城市可持续发展的平衡之道——以法国雷恩市为例

遗产保护的概念在法国雷恩市的发展实践中得到了两方面的扩展,一方面以宏观的视角将城市区域作为整体的空间遗产,另一方面以历史的视角融合了传统遗产与当代的建设。在此基础上,遗产保护政策与交通、住房、公共设施和公共空间等城市空间政策有效融合,促进了雷恩城市的快速发展。当前,遗产保护更进一步在城市可持续发展的四项战略对策中,即城市发展的公共控制、城市发展的平衡控制、城市中心的崭新形象和城市公民的信息沟通方面,都发挥了深远的影响。总体上,遗产保护成为了平衡各项城市空间政策、实现城市可持续发展战略框架的核心工具。     

可持续发展居住区英国生态城镇

回顾了英国城镇发展过程中可持续思想的进化及其在规划法中的体现。当前,全球变暖和住房短缺是英国所面临的主要危机,英国政府提出了生态城镇这一概念以期应对这些危机。生态城镇是基于可持续的全新居住区,要求在能源,经济,环境,社会等方面都要做到可持续发展,如何将其细化落实到具体的规划实践中将是下一步要考虑的问题。     

创建可持续发展的人类住区初探——以天津西华苑居住区规划设计为例

如何在我国的居住区规划中真正实现“创建可持续发展的人类住区”这一目标，是值得认真研究的课题。文章介绍了天津西华苑居住区的规划竞赛方案，并从生态、文化和对人的关怀三个方面作了有益的探索。     

Effects of the circular economy,environmental policy,energy transition,and geopolitical risk on sustainable electricity generation

The recent global paradigm shift toward sustainable green development necessitates revealing the likely green determinants of sustainable electricity generation in order to derive key policy recommendations for dealing with the global energy crisis. As a result, the current study focuses on the drivers of global electricity generation (EG) and identifies environmental policy (EP), energy transition (ET), geopolitical risk (GPR), and circular economy (CE) as novel determinants. The study employs a battery of advanced econometric techniques, including quantile VAR, quantile slope estimate, and wavelet-based correlation methods, for empirical analysis. The quantile VAR-based connectedness confirms the modeled series' significant interconnectedness. Furthermore, the findings suggest that CE plays an important role in promoting the global EG process, as evidenced by positive effects across quantiles. When the effects of ET and EP are considered, a positive relationship between ET, EP, and EG is discovered, implying that ET and EP are important drivers of electricity generation. Furthermore, GPR has significant and negative effects on EG across most quantiles, indicating that the EG process suffers a significant loss as a result of GPR. Furthermore, the wavelet-based correlation method confirms the significant association between selected series, supporting the preceding findings. In order to achieve sustainable electricity generation, several results-based policies are proposed for local and global authorities.