Assessment of Solar Power Sustainability in Urban Areas

The majority of power produced around the world come from fossil fuels, which emit environmentally harmful carbon dioxide. The use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns and economic burdens; therefore, the use of solar energy can make clean and sustainable power. From 2010 to 2020, solar power production increased by 42% annually; and it is expected that fossil fuel use will decrease by 75% by 2035. As more than 60% of the population is expected to move to urban areas by 2050, and city-integrated solar energy can help to meet the high-energy demands of growing urban areas. To effectively use a solar power system, an understanding of the sustainability aspect of the technology and its applications is necessary. This study reviews twenty-five refereed research papers from developed and developing countries, based on the sustainability assessment of power generation technologies. These papers have evaluated the technologies for power generation that use coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, hydropower, solar (both PV and thermal), and wind. The study looks at a variety of indicators and sub-indicators used to assess their sustainability and divides them into three categories: environmental, social, and economic. The list of sub-indicators is further reduced by removing similar indicators. The environmental indicators are prioritized by developed and developing countries over social and economic. The prioritized indicators will be useful in urban solar power and energy efficiency studies.