As environmental problems associated with energy systems become more serious, it is necessary to address them with consideration of their interconnections—for example, the energy-mineral nexus. Specifically, it is unclear whether long-term energy scenarios assuming the expansion of low carbon energy technology are sustainable in terms of resource constraints. However, there are few studies that comprehensively analyze the possibility of resource constraints in the process of introducing low carbon energy technology from a long-term perspective. Hence, to provide guidelines for technological development and policy-making toward realizing the low carbon society, this paper undertakes the following: (1) Estimation of the impact of the expansion of low carbon energy technology on future metal demand based, on the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s scenarios; (2) estimation of the potential effects of low carbon energy technology recycling on the future supply-demand balance; (3) identification of critical metals that require priority measures. Results indicated that the introduction of solar power and next-generation vehicles may be hindered by resource depletion. Among the metals examined, indium, tellurium, silver, lithium, nickel and platinum were identified as critical metals that require specific measures. As recycling can reduce primary demand by 20%~70% for low carbon energy technology, countermeasures including recycling need to be considered.

Considering the challenge of accessing reliable household metering data in Nigeria, how can electricity consumption levels be determined? And how do disparities in electricity consumption patterns across the country affect the pursuit of sustainability, universal access and energy transition objectives? This study combined household-reported data on ownership of electrical appliances and energy expenditure with online sales records of household appliances to estimate current and future residential electricity demand in Nigeria, as well as the required generation capacity to achieve 100% electricity access, under various scenarios. Median residential electricity consumption was estimated at 18–27 kWh per capita but these estimates vary between the geographical zones with the North East and South West representing extremes. Under a universal access scenario, the future electricity supply system would be expected to have installed generation capacity sufficient to meet the estimated residential demand of 85 TWh. To further understand the required infrastructure investment as a whole and the approaches that might be preferred in rural versus urban areas, the disaggregated, zone-by-zone and urban/rural data may offer more insight than a whole-of-country approach. The data obtained is useful for identifying specific transitions at the sub-national level that can minimize the required investment while maximizing households’ energy access.

The growing number of photovoltaic installations has created competition in land use between the need for electricity and food. Agrivoltaic systems (AVSs) can help solve this problem by increasing land use efficiency through the co-production of electricity and food. However, in Japan, where more than 2000 AVSs have been installed, some undesirable AVS cases have led to new problems. In this study, we developed an AVS installation model that is compatible with a regional society and limits the scale of AVS installation to a low-risk level. AVS projects have also entered local industrial clusters and stimulated the local economy. In this study, we used public information and geographic information systems to ensure quantifiability and applicability. The results revealed that the rural area targeted in this study had an AVS generation potential of 215% (equal to 17.8 GWh) of the region’s annual electricity consumption and an economic ripple effect of 108.9% (EUR 47.8 million) of the region’s gross regional product. Furthermore, the levelized cost of electricity was estimated to be 14.94–25.54 Euro cents/kWh under secure settings. This study provides solutions to food, economic, and energy problems in rural areas by promoting the installation of AVSs.

Urbanization affects economic production activities and energy demand, as well as lifestyle and consumption behavior, affecting carbon dioxide emissions. This study constructs the System Generalized Method of Moments (Sys-GMM) model of the impact of urbanization rate on carbon dioxide emissions based on panel data of 136 countries and regions in the world from 1990 to 2020, grounded on the extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. This study found that (1) there is a negative relationship between urbanization rate and CO₂ emissions from 1990 to 2020. (2) The impact of the urbanization rate on CO₂ emissions is heterogeneous. An increase in urbanization rate in non-OECD countries significantly reduces CO₂ emissions, while the effect is not significant in OECD countries. (3) The carbon intensity of fossil energy consumption moderates the relationship between urbanization rate and CO₂ emissions, weakening the effect of urbanization rate on CO₂ emissions. Based on these findings, policy recommendations such as promoting urbanization and increasing the regulation and control of fossil energy carbon intensity are proposed.

This study aims to reveal the economic, technical, and environmental impacts of different system configurations (centralized or decentralized, components, and technologies) on transition plans to achieve a higher share of renewable energy and desalination supplies for regions facing water scarcity. The main contribution of this research is the comparative evaluation of on-grid decentralized or distributed renewable-powered desalination systems for sustainable water and energy supply planning. Applying a novel nexus approach, an interactive multi-period planning model is developed to highlight synergies and to identify conflicts of planning both energy and water sectors at the same time as endogenous subsystems of one overall system. For studying these synergies in this study, the pace of technology deployment and the path of decline in overall costs are assumed to be a function of experience and knowledge as two-factor learning curves. Using data from 81 projects, the levelized cost and capacity factor of utility-scale photovoltaic and wind supplies in the Middle East were calculated. The results indicate that a scenario with a decentralized water sector and renewable-powered multiple-effect distillation technology has the best overall performance among the proposed scenarios.

Decarbonization and idle cropland reclaiming pose critical policy challenges. Agrivoltaic systems (AVSs), which merge agriculture and photovoltaics, offer a promising solution by reducing land use conflicts between agriculture and energy production. This study develops a GIS-based methodology to identify reclaimable idle croplands and assess the AVS’s contribution to agriculture and photovoltaic energy in Japan’s Kansai region. Using official geographic data and excluding high-risk areas, this study employs GIS for quantitative analysis. Our method detected more reclaimable idle cropland than previous studies. Focusing on food security while limiting AVS installations to reclaimable idle croplands could still generate up to 4564.08 GWh of electricity (0.8% of regional consumption) and 930.82 tons of soybeans (6.2% of regional yield). Under a more stringent scenario that excludes areas less suitable for solar power, 5 of 227 municipalities could achieve 15% electricity self-sufficiency through AVS. This research uncovers the existence of reclaimable idle croplands that could not be detected by existing methods and a decentralized power source available alongside food security maintenance. These insights will inform decarbonization and agricultural policy and guide the development of supportive and regulatory AVS frameworks.