Sustainability in energy production

Abstract

The requirement of energy in different human activities is continuously increasing; from the energetic production, chiefly by thermal systems, important and worrying environmental problems are generated: there are concerns about climate change, local air quality worsening, exhaustion of resources and land use change. To limit these negative aspects, policies of reduction in energy use must be first proposed; besides different technological, economic and planning solutions can be considered; their effect must be carefully assessed, as concerns effectiveness and practical implementation. The final political decision must consider the different tools that are at disposal, in order to define the best approach for the satisfaction of necessities with the minimum consequent impact.