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The residential energy sector is crucial to achieving CO 2 emission reductions as it has an important energy-saving potential, and its environmental controls are difficult to displace to other countries. Using the latest available data, this short paper provides a concise analysis of residential energy consumption trends for the period 1993-2013 in a double perspective, by main world regions and by per capita gross national income levels in 2013. Residential energy has been divided into three types: non-renewable, direct renewable and indirect renewable. Annual rates of change, energy intensity, energy in per capita terms and some ratios have been analyzed. Notable regional differences and trends were observed in the studied variables. Therefore, different energy policies are recommended for the regions. Eastern and Southern Asian countries, the EU15 and other developed countries, are the regions which should make the greatest effort to reduce residential energy consumption. The promotion of direct and indirect renewable energies is recommended.

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The deployment of renewable energy sources is reviewed in this research showing the importance that they have reached in most countries. The International Energy "gency has insisted on the importance of their promotion all over the world, considering that at least one renewable energy source is available in all countries. The aim of this chapter is to show that although renewables are an effective alternative to the use of fossil fuels, there are other important positive externalities. "s the fossil fuels are the main source of greenhouse emissions and other air pollutants, the negative effects that they have on human health, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, have been recently shown in many studies. When renewables contribute to reducing the use of fossil fuels and associated air pollutant emissions, they have a positive effect on human health. Therefore, policy makers have to take into consideration all these positive externalities of renewable sources, when evaluating the possibility of their promotion. However, this evaluation should also take into consideration that not all renewable energy sources have equivalent positive effects. Our final conclusion is that governments should be supported by recent research when deciding the most appropriate energy mix for a country.

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Urban mining by recyclers represents a positive environmental impact as well as being part of the waste management chain. This paper analyzes the contribution of waste pickers in the city of Cuenca in Ecuador and the conditions of their activity. This research has a two-fold objective. First, it calculates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the substitution of virgin raw material in the production process by using recycled urban waste. The second objective is to conduct a socioeconomic analysis of the workers involved in the urban waste sector. Cuenca (Ecuador) is the main city used for this case study, thanks to the accessibility of a rich database built from the survey conducted by the NGO Alliance for Development. The information contained in this survey facilitates the identification of potential consumers of the waste industry. This study uses Clean Development Mechanism methodology. Finally, this work proposes a theoretical model for solid waste management, applied to the city, following the principles of the circular economy.

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