The International Conference on New and Renewable Energy Technologies for Sustainable Development held in Ponta Delgada, Azores (2002), Portugal, has provided technology specialists and hardware developers with the opportunity to discuss, review and demonstrate the research directions, the design methodologies, and the production techniques leading to cost- effective energy technologies for sustainable development.

This dialog provides the context for more detailed technical presentations and panel discussions on energy systems, renewable resource exploitation, and the engineering design and optimisation for minimum resource consumption. The papers included in this volume are selected from those presented at the conference reflecting to present the state-of-the-art developments in the field.

The selection of papers presented in this volume has enlightened various fields of scientific and economic development which should merge efforts in the understanding of the sustainable development concept and technological implications. The book will be of particular interest to engineering practitioners, product developers, researchers, and also economists, political scientists and government administrators exploring the multifaceted relationship between renewable energy technologies and sustainable development. Keynote lectures frame the technical and policy issues confronting the sustainable development movement and enrich the dialog between various segments of the community.