IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v20y2009i4p567-585.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability of Micro-Hydrosystems — A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • A.B. Chhetri
  • G.R. Pokharel
  • M.R. Islam

Abstract

Energy development and management has been a crucial subject due to recent concerns of energy shortages and increasing oil prices. Energy is not only the major driver of economic development but also a major precursor for global environmental problems due to emission of pollutants including greenhouse gases. The development of sustainable energy systems that do not have net negative impacts into ecology, economy and society has been given due considerations recently. In order to determine whether a particular energy system is sustainable, a set of criteria can be used to evaluate them. In this study, a decentralized community based micro hydro system in Nepal has been evaluated for its sustainability by using environmental, economic and social criteria. From the sustainability analysis, it is found that decentralized community based micro hydro systems are sustainable in the long-term. This model can also be applied to evaluate sustainability of any other energy systems of similar settings.

Suggested Citation

  • A.B. Chhetri & G.R. Pokharel & M.R. Islam, 2009. "Sustainability of Micro-Hydrosystems — A Case Study," Energy & Environment, , vol. 20(4), pages 567-585, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:20:y:2009:i:4:p:567-585
    DOI: 10.1260/095830509788707356
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1260/095830509788707356
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1260/095830509788707356?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Common, Mick & Perrings, Charles, 1992. "Towards an ecological economics of sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 7-34, July.
    2. Lele, Sharachchandra M., 1991. "Sustainable development: A critical review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 607-621, June.
    3. Rijal, Kamal, 1999. "Renewable energy policy options for mountain communities: Experiences from China, India, Nepal and Pakistan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1138-1142.
    4. Hourcade, Jean-Charles & Colombier, Michel & Menanteau, Philippe, 1990. "Price equalization and alternative approaches for rural electrification," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(9), pages 861-870, November.
    5. van den Broek, Richard & Lemmens, Lex, 1997. "Rural electrification in Tanzania : Constructive use of project appraisal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 43-54, January.
    6. Nouni, M.R. & Mullick, S.C. & Kandpal, T.C., 2006. "Techno-economics of micro-hydro projects for decentralized power supply in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1161-1174, July.
    7. Pokharel, Shaligram, 2007. "An econometric analysis of energy consumption in Nepal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 350-361, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dovers, Stephen R., 1995. "A framework for scaling and framing policy problems in sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 93-106, February.
    2. Phillis, Yannis A. & Andriantiatsaholiniaina, Luc A., 2001. "Sustainability: an ill-defined concept and its assessment using fuzzy logic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 435-456, June.
    3. Toman, Michael & Pezzey, John C., 2002. "The Economics of Sustainability: A Review of Journal Articles," RFF Working Paper Series dp-02-03, Resources for the Future.
    4. Joowon Im, 2019. "Green Streets to Serve Urban Sustainability: Benefits and Typology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Endl, Andreas & Tost, Michael & Hitch, Michael & Moser, Peter & Feiel, Susanne, 2021. "Europe's mining innovation trends and their contribution to the sustainable development goals: Blind spots and strong points," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Kumar, Deepak & Katoch, S.S., 2014. "Harnessing ‘water tower’ into ‘power tower’: A small hydropower development study from an Indian prefecture in western Himalayas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 87-101.
    7. Stern, David I., 1997. "Limits to substitution and irreversibility in production and consumption: A neoclassical interpretation of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 197-215, June.
    8. Douguet, Jean-Marc & O'Connor, Martin, 2003. "Maintaining the integrity of the French terroir: a study of critical natural capital in its cultural context," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 233-254, March.
    9. Nicos A. Scordis & Yoshihiko Suzawa & Astrid Zwick & Lucia Ruckner, 2014. "Principles for Sustainable Insurance: Risk Management and Value," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 17(2), pages 265-276, September.
    10. Jeroen van den Bergh & John Gowdy, 2000. "Evolutionary Theories in Environmental and Resource Economics: Approaches and Applications," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 17(1), pages 37-57, September.
    11. Admiraal, Jeroen F. & Wossink, Ada & de Groot, Wouter T. & de Snoo, Geert R., 2013. "More than total economic value: How to combine economic valuation of biodiversity with ecological resilience," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 115-122.
    12. Clive L Spash, 2009. "Social Ecological Economics," Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion (SEED) Working Paper Series 2009-08, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.
    13. Zeng, Sheng & Su, Bin & Zhang, Minglong & Gao, Yuan & Liu, Jun & Luo, Song & Tao, Qingmei, 2021. "Analysis and forecast of China's energy consumption structure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    14. Cowell, Sarah J. & Wehrmeyer, Walter & Argust, Peter W. & Robertson, J. Graham S., 1999. "Sustainability and the primary extraction industries: theories and practice," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 277-286, December.
    15. Ervin, David E. & Fox, Glenn, 1998. "Environmental Policy Considerations In The Grain-Livestock Subsectors In Canada, Mexico And The United States," Proceedings of the 4th Agricultural and Food Policy Systems Information Workshop 1998: Economic Harmonization in the Canadian\U.S.\Mexican Grain-Livestock Subsector; 16754, Farm Foundation, Agricultural and Food Policy Systems Information Workshops.
    16. Spash, Clive L. & Clayton, Anthony M. H., 1995. "Strategies for the maintenance of natural capital," MPRA Paper 38273, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Natasha Grist, 2008. "Positioning climate change in sustainable development discourse," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(6), pages 783-803.
    18. Mariusz Dacko & Aleksandra Płonka & Łukasz Satoła & Aneta Dacko, 2021. "Sustainable Development According to the Opinions of Polish Experts," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-18, August.
    19. J. Allister McGregor, 2014. "Human wellbeing and sustainability: interdependent and intertwined," Chapters, in: Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz & Eric Neumayer & Matthew Agarwala (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development, chapter 14, pages 217-234, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:20:y:2009:i:4:p:567-585. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.