Abstract
Renewable energy is considered worldwide as a sufficient solution to mitigate climate change. Since the application of a new technology is affected by various factors, it is crucial to consider both the advantages and disadvantages of new technology related to, for example, the environment, economy, and society. Most of the current studies do not focus on the quantifiable measurement of the potential of renewable energy as an alternative to fossil fuel energy, especially in power generation sector. This paper aimed to quantitatively recognise the sustainability of different renewable power sources compared to conventional power sources by using Triple I. The Inclusive Impact Index, Triple I, is a metric developed to assess environmental sustainability and economic feasibility of utilisation technologies to predict their public acceptance. Triple I can be obtained by subtracting biocapacity (BC) and generated benefits (B) from total ecological footprint (EF), ecological risk (ER), human risk (HR), and costs (C) caused by the system. Findings from this paper found that fossil fuel-based power generation was not sustainable due to the significant environmental burden. Apart from tidal energy and large-scale Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems, the high cost of power plant installation and operation led to the unsustainability of ocean energy systems. Nuclear, wind, geothermal, hydro, and tidal and OTEC (100 MW) were found sustainable.
