Energy sustainability from analysis of sustainable development indicators: A case study in Taiwan

As Taiwan has a dense population and only limited natural resources, the government began actively establishing a Taiwanʹs sustainable development indicators (TSDI) system in 2003, which was developed with reference to the Pressure–State Response (PSR) framework to evaluate the progress towards sustainability. Energy is a very important factor in leading to sustainable development at the national level. However, there are only two indicators concerning the energy sustainability in the TSDI system. This paper summarizes the current status of energy supply, energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and renewable energy production since the year 2000. The updated information on the TSDI was also addressed and analyzed to imply the progress towards energy sustainability during 2000–2008. Finally, the weighted-sum method was proposed to make an analysis of energy sustainability from Taiwanʹs renewable energy production, showing that this country has experienced a significant progress toward energy sustainability in recent years.