Energy policies play a pivotal part in helping countries achieve their sustainable development goals. Further, energy is one of the critical raw materials in companies' production processes. Therefore, ensuring a steady energy supply is essential to increasing production; otherwise, countries will inevitably slide into recession. In this context, countries should select their energy policies on the basis of a comprehensive analysis. In order to achieve this goal, many different factors must be considered at the same time. The aim of this book is to determine the right energy policies for the sustainable economic development of countries. In this framework, effective strategies for different types of energy will be presented and vital issues such as determining the right locations for nuclear power plants, providing optimal government incentives to increase clean energy investments, and determining appropriate energy policies to reduce energy dependence will be examined. Thus, country-specific optimal energy policies will be outlined, contributing to the achievement of the UN's sustainable development goals (SDG).  

As the world accelerates towards a renewable energy transition, the demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) for energy generation, conversion, and storage technologies is seeing a drastic increase. Such materials are not only subject to limited supply and extreme price volatility but can also represent serious burdens to the environment, to human health, and also to socio-political systems. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, this book provides a novel perspective on the discussion about material dependencies of energy technologies. It examines CRMs use in fuel cells, an emerging energy conversion technology, and discusses governance strategies for early-stage fuel cell development to predict and avoid potential issues.

Geoethics for the Future: Facing Global Challenges offers the latest points of view on highly topical issues in geosciences, including climate change, sustainable development, and energy transition, enabling readers to acquire multifaceted knowledge of topics of global relevance and highlighting the importance of the issues affecting geosciences in the 21st Century. The book outlines how geoethical considerations are integral in providing new insights and analyses for improving the theoretical structure of geoethics and its practical applications, with an aim to create conditions for sharing perspectives on the best ways for implementing scientific action to face global anthropogenic changes.

Handbook of Recycling, Second Edition is an authoritative review of the current state of recycling, reuse and reclamation processes commonly implemented today, and how they interact with one another. Fully updated to cover recent developments in the field, this second edition has also been restructured to cover general aspects of recycling, applications, technology, recovery and collection, economics, governance and policy. Several new chapters on global recycled material flows, sludges, reinforced plastics, and landfill mining have been added. It concludes with a review of the policy and economic implications, including the impact of recycling on energy use, sustainable development, and the environment.

The Material Basis of Energy Transitions explores the intersection between critical raw material provision and the energy system. Chapters draw on examples and case studies involving energy technologies (e.g., electric power, transport) and raw material provision (e.g., mining, recycling), and consider these in their regional and global contexts. The book critically discusses issues such as the notion of criticality in the context of a circular economy, approaches for estimating the need for raw materials, certification schemes for raw materials, the role of consumers, and the impact of renewable energy development on resource conflicts. Each chapter deals with a specific issue that characterizes the interdependency between critical raw materials and renewable energies by examining case studies from a particular conceptual perspective.

Mining and Processing Residues: Future's Source of Critical Raw Materials provides a comprehensive review of principal aspects of CRM-containing residues re-processing, including available sampling and analytical techniques, the latest available processing technologies, authorization and legal matters, and analysis of environmental, social, and economic impacts. Suitable for academic researchers, practicing engineers and students, the book is aimed at giving a complete and multilateral view of CRM recovery from the residues.

Plastic films, glass optical fibers, silicon crystals, and more -- this book is about the history of the materials that have rapidly transformed our society over the last century and their role in the major global challenges of the future. From metal alloys ushering in a new age of industry to advanced materials laying the atomic brickwork of the Digital Revolution, the book examines the societal impact of the modern materials revolution through the twin lenses of stability and sustainability. Why aren't maglev trains mainstream? Whatever happened to graphene and carbon nanotubes? The book also looks at the unmet promises of some of the most exciting -- and hyped -- technologies in recent decades -- superconductivity and nanotechnology. The final chapter reviews our history of materials usage, the increasing demand for many critical raw materials, and addresses the upcoming new challenges for creating a circular economy based on reusing and recycling materials.

The Routledge Handbook of the Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development provides a cutting edge, comprehensive overview of current trends, challenges and opportunities for metal and mineral production and use, in the context of climate change and the United Nation Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. Minerals and metals are used throughout the world in manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, production of electronics and consumer goods. Alongside this widespread use, extraction and processing of mineral resources take place in almost every nation at varying scales, both in developing countries through to major developed nations. The chapters in this interdisciplinary handbook examine the international governance mechanisms regulating social, environmental and economic implications of mineral resource extraction and use.