Human Security and Challenges to the Development of Renewable Energies in Iran, with Emphasis on Environmental Security

Environmental security, as one of the seven dimensions of human security, has a close connection with the way of using energy resources. Energy management has an important role in achieving the sustainable development by reducing environmental pollution. Sustainable development would be impossible without environmental security. In other words, energy has a direct connection with security and development. Energy specialists and planners in the world believe that renewable energies should play a much prominent role in providing human energy requirement and reducing environmental pollution. Discussing future problems and developing appropriate strategies and policies can have a key role in developing renewable energies to supply some parts of energy requirement in the country.
The aim of this study is to discuss the benefits and opportunities for developing renewable energies in Iran based on assessment of the factors involved in related organizations, through studying the importance and developed position of renewable energy resources in Iran and the world. Some benefits of developing renewable energies include: reliable and clean energy resource, power generation with a stable price, diversification of power resources in the country to be able to do more export, power supply of electricity generation with the less ancillary costs, reaching the aims of the 4th and the 5th National Development Plan and also the potential for economic development, with emphasis on technology development and new jobs creation. in this paper, by reviewing the existing laws and policies on new energies, the necessity of sound policies for development of renewable energies in national energy plans in line with ensuring human and environmental security, with emphasis on challenges to development of renewable energies in Iran have been investigated.
The results show that developing renewable energies in the world faces economical, technical, administrative and legal challenges which cause delay in development of these energies. Besides all these international barriers, development of renewable energies in Iran faces other national and local problems. Some of the major obstacles to the development of renewable energy resources in Iran includes: lack of plans and documented policies for development, lack of national and local laws concerning renewable energies, lack of knowledge about the function of these sources of energy among national planners and managers, weaknesses in human resources management as well as technology transfer barriers.