Sustainable development, Environmental policy, Renewable sources of energy
Abstract
A critical analysis of theoretical approaches to sustainable development has been addressed by this paper with a focus on the contribution of energy policy analysis methods to the enhancement of economic thought by adopting interdisciplinary analytical forms. The emerging issues brought about by a global environmental phenomenon, such as the greenhouse effect, are presented. This reveals insufficiency of classic economic instruments to deal with the specific and related problems of similar nature and demonstrates the necessity of articulation of economic and ecological sustainabilities. Then the focus shifts to the local level (Frangocastello, Southern Crete), so that the social vector be introduced in the analysis. Furthermore, two alternatives are presented regarding renewable sources of energy (solar energy and an integrated system of wind and biomass energy) in order to examine whether they can promote sustainable development for the region.
