What Is Our Point of View on “Energy Independence and Research for Economic and Environmental Sustainability”?

The scope of this contribution is to stimulate critical debate on what are the implication of “energy independence” and “energy research” on the sustainable development of society. We point out how energy independence is strongly related to the penetration of renewable energy sources; and how the country's energy independence is not expected to be achieved in a short-medium period. Moreover, the trends of low found to the research on energy topics are not consistent with the pursuit of sustainable development of society. With these observations, we want to contribute to the debate on what policies that will have an impact on the sustainable development of society, suggesting to focus on the point of view of those actors that will play the main role in the next future.