Technological and Economic Development of Economy ISSN 2029-4913 / eISSN 2029-4921 2018 Volume 24 Issue 4: 1408–1434 https://doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2017.1303650 THE RURAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH RENEWABLE ENERGY. THE CASE OF ROMANIA Mirela Ionela ACELEANU1, Andreea Claudia ȘERBAN2, Diana Mihaela ȚÎRCĂ3* , Liana BADEA4 1, 2Department of Economics and Economic Policy, Faculty of Theoretical and Applied Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romana Square, No.6, 010374 Bucharest, Romania, 3Department of Management and Business Administration, Faculty of Economics, “Constantin Brâncuși” University of Târgu-Jiu, Eroilor Street, No. 30, 210135, Târgu-Jiu, Gorj, Romania 4Department of Economic Doctrines and Communication, Faculty of Theoretical and Applied Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romana Square, No.6, Bucharest 010374, Romania Received 24 November 2016; accepted 04 March 2017 Abstract. The study aims to analyze the importance of renewable energy and to assess the progress made by Romania comparing to European Union and to targets set by Community institutions. We consider that both economic issues such as job creation or reduction of import dependency, but also ecological issues including reducing greenhouse gas emissions are important in discussions about renewable energy in rural areas in Romania. By using linear regression it has been identified a strong correlation in Romania, for period 2004–2014, between share of renewable resources in gross final energy consumption and import dependency. Taking into account that energetic independence is a problem of great importance for each country, the paper aims to identify unused renewable energy potential in rural areas and also opportunities for developing renewable energy sector based on the resources that can be exploited with high efficiency, action that will generate economic and social positive effects. Our results reveal that Romania has a high development potential of rural areas using renewable energy because Romania has a high volume of renewable resources (sun, wind, water). Under these circumstances it is necessary to adopt the policies in order to support projects referring to these types of energy. Keywords: green economy, rural economy, rural development, renewable energy, sustainable de- velopment, Romania. JEL Classification: Q01, Q1, Q2. *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] © 2018 The Author(s). Published by VGTU Press This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 2018, 24(4): 1408–1434 1409 Introduction Lately, it has been paid a great attention to the environment protection and to the possibility that the orientation towards these issues would lead to job creation. The organizations and governments try to find effective solutions to solve both the problems of climate change, pol- lution, waste and communion with the environment, but also issues such as economic crises, high unemployment, low employment rates for youth or women, fewer job opportunities for rural population. The best solutions will be those, which would generate low economic and social opportunity costs for individuals and societies as a whole. The economic development has been associated over time with the increase in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Orientation towards renewable energy can de- couple this correlation, thus contributing to sustainable development (IPCC 2011). Also, the energy security is very important to ensure a green growth for a green economy. The increase of renewable energy contribute to the reduction of energy import dependency and to the faster transition to a green economy, in accordance with the provisions of the Europe 2020 Strategy (Streimikiene et al. 2016). Therefore, the current challenge for world and european economies is to increase the share of renewable energy considering the context of negative effects of irrational actions on the environment and natural resources and of climate change, that put pressure on the economy. Because of that, the environmental considerations must be integrated at an early stage of policy making to get results (Roggeri et al. 2011). Renewable energy, as diversification of energy sources, reduces dependency on fossil fuels (which have the risk of generating shock waves especially the imported ones) and con- sequently it contributes to increase energy security. The development of this field creates op- portunities for new industries, both in the exploration productive area and in new technology production area, affecting job creation and economic growth. This sector will have to exploit the unused or low efficiency used resources, i.e. the underused labour force or agricultural land, inappropriately exploited biomass, wind power or solar energy that can be captured on large areas and can provide energy for households with limited access to forms of energy with higher costs. The energy efficiency is one of the most important issue of the European climate policy and of the economic growth. Balitskiy et al. (2016) show the relationship between energy efficiency, consumption of the natural gas and economic development in the European Union. They conclude that in the EU there is a positive relationship between economic development and the consumption of the natural gas, and a negative one between the consumption of the natural gas and economic development. As a result it is important for economic and environmental policies to take into account all the implications on the short and long time (Balitskiy et al. 2016). Two-thirds of the world’s poor population live in rural areas (ILO 2012), therefore the need to reduce poverty refers mainly to the rural poverty. Important aspects of rural areas are the improvement of road transport infrastructure to facilitate the access to rural areas, the access to electricity and water for domestic use and internet and health care services. There are many other problems facing rural areas, that aggravate poverty, which include the lack of employment that provides decent income. The solutions aim at increasing employment by improving skills, adapting them to the current labour market needs and to the require- ments of sustainable development of the global economy. Providing opportunities for starting 1410 M. I. Aceleanu et al. The rural sustainable development through renewable energy ... own business is another effective solution that targets rural poverty. The passive methods of providing aid for different low-income families cannot generate effects and do not provide a long-term reduction of the phenomenon. The need to find new ways to reduce poverty in rural areas coexists with concerns about the environment and resource scarcity, food security and economic crises (ILO 2011). The specialized studies in renewable energy show increasing concerns in this area capturing the main approaches in sustainable and renewable energy systems problems (Mardani et al. 2015). 1. The purpose of the study and the methodology Greening the rural economy is an important and necessary step to reduce rural poverty and improve well-being of the population. Environmental challenges facing rural areas refer to negative impact of climate change, resource scarcity and degradation of natural resources. These have to be addressed into rural development strategies in order to promote environ- mental sustainability (ILO 2015). Rural areas have unused economic potential through their human capital and natural resources. However, on the one hand, renewable natural resources are limited, therefore ef- fective ways to use alternative renewable resources has to be identified. Degradation, waste of resources, pollution are types of negative externalities, which affect the future generations, but they are still not internalized and not evaluated by investors. Even if activities produce negative externalities, they are considered rational choice in terms of profits. However, The United Nations stress on the importance of transforming our world in accordance with Sus- tainable Development Goals and create a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity for the next 15 years (2015–2030). Ending poverty, protecting planet from degradation, record- ing economic, social and technological progress in harmony with nature, fostering peaceful are objectives that could be achieved only by partnership based on solidarity with the poorest and most vulnerables (United Nations 2015). Providing the necessary resources for the future can be achieved through different ways of intervention, either in the markets (resources markets, labour market, etc.) or in economic policies (protection of resources by control and regulations, encouraging green technolo- gies etc.). Nowadays, the need for sustainable development is a constraint to growth. The economic system works in a closed ecological system, the two of them must evolve together and support each other. Incomplete information or differences in knowledge can make dif- ficult to evaluate the performance of alternatives when choosing between green and classical investments (Liou et al. 2016). On the other hand, the labour force is poorly qualified, aged and not adapted to the need of sustainable development of rural areas. Therefore,