Sustainable development is defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (Brundtland, 1987). Applied to energy, it is the ability of a society to continue present energy production and consumption patterns many generations into the future, with a focus on the relationship of available energy resource to the rate of resource exhaustion. A sustainable energy market requires the quantity, quality, and utility of energy to improve over time—energy becomes more available, more affordable, more usable and reliable, and cleaner over time (Bradley and Simon, 2000).

Development and population growth adversely impact the sustainability future by accelerating energy resource exhaustion and environmental degradation. For example, the greater the population growth, the greater the desire for development by the growing population, the greater the desire for short-term exploitation of energy resources...