The last ten years have seen a change in government policy across all sectors
in Sudan, with new principles of reconstruction and development. There has
been a shift in policy to address issues of economic efficiency access to
affordable energy for all and environmental sustainability. As with all
government policy, however, the challenge lies in implementation – and
how to meet economic, social and environmental objectives at the same time
and to achieve sustainable development
Energy efficiency
As stated by the first law of thermodynamics, energy is conserved, neither
created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to another.
Conversion processes, however, involve losses for various reasons, so that
although the energy leaving a process or activity equals that entering it, but
the usable energy is always lower. The ratio of the usable energy, the energy
output to the energy input, is termed energy efficiency. This concept
therefore concerns the possible reduction of energy input to a process or
activity, increasing the energy output from the process or activity, increasing
the economic output and, significantly here, reducing adverse environmental
impacts. In general, energy efficiency can be one of the parameters to define
the technical, or economic performance of a system and also link with the
environmental performance Several factors affect energy efficiency,
depending on the perspective taken. The efficiency of a piece of equipment
is different from the efficiency of a system or of the entire energy economy.
While the technical parameters, such as energy input and output, are crucial
in dealing with efficiency of equipment, other factors – such as resources
endowments, conversion technologies, location, information access, prices,
availability of investment fina nce, operation costs, age of energy
infrastructures and technological capacity – are considered in the discussion
of an energy economy. These factors accentuate the need for considering
national circumstances when dealing with energy efficiency of the energy
system. Further, technically, the overall energy efficiency of a system is the
combination of several component efficiencies and so will depend on
individual efficiencies. It will also depend on the structure of energy supply,
and conversion and energy use patterns. The theoretical potential for energy
efficiency improvements are large. The current efficiency of the global
energy system is about 37% (UNDP et al. 2000). Both the first and second
laws of thermodynamics will prevent the realisation of total system
efficiency – given the many irreversibilities such as friction and resistance –
so most energy efficiency activities concentrate on reducing certain losses
.from the system
Energy has been the pivot for all aspects of human development in the past
and all signs indicate that this trend will continue. Demand for it has grown
throughout human history, but with increasing speed since the industrial
revolution and, more recently, since the 1950s. The use of different energy
sources and different ways of producing the energy to satisfy demand have
evolved into a global energy system that involves activities connecting
virtually every region and virtually every country, with resulting complex
political, technological, economic and social interrelationships between
nations and regions worldwide. Despite the major achievements in using
energy to satisfy developmental needs, the kinds of energy we use and the
way we produce them has resulted in serious local, regional and global
environmental problems. The response, especially to global is one of the
problems, that require global solutions in addition to regional and local ones.
This study is one of the many efforts to address the global problems using
.national solutions
Several suggestions have been put forward about how to adjust the global
energy system as a means of combating climate change (IPCC 2001), but the
feasibility of the various options has always been debated – for technical,
economic, social and political reasons, along with the presence of
:entrenched interests. Options suggested so far include the following
Renewable energy
Renewable energy, as opposed to fossil fuels whose sources are finite, has
always been abundant and inexhaustible, and accounts for around 14% of
total primary energy consumption and almost a quarter of electricity supplies
– the latter mainly due to hydro resources (UNDP et al. 2000). In general,
renewable energy comes mainly in the form of direct and indirect solar
energy. Thesenclude direct solar radiation as solar energy, which also leads
to photosynthesis; biomass energy the heat of the earth known as
geothermal energy; wind and ocean tides as wind energy, wave an tidal
energy; and energy from falling water, hydropower. All these sources are
significant in the climate change debate because of their low levels of
adverse environmental problem-causing comparison to fossil fuels –
especially their low or non-existent carbon emissions. Renewable energy can
provide some advantages for energy security because it will assist in
diversifying energy supply, especially in satisfying decentralized systems,
and in some
circumstances can also aid economic and environmental security. Certain
factors have limited their use, however, including its relatively diffuse nature
and wide, low-density distribution which make them expensive to develop.
Further, it depends largely on natural, intermittent flows that require storage
.facilities to improve reliability of supply
Development of renewable energy has been significant recently, however,
especially in the direct solar, wind and biomass industries; this is reflected in
its contribution to total energy consumption in some countries. The growth
in wind energy applications is a salient example: in 20 years it has moved
from small machines producing power for remote villages to large machines
.supplying bulk grid-connected electricity
:Research Methodology
The aim of the study is to show the impact of renewable energy and energy
:efficiency policies and measures (PAMs) in two major dimensions