Preface–Introduction to the special volume on ‘The Second International Symposium on Renewable Energy and Sustainability (ISRES 2013)’

In commemoration of the 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, declared by United Nations, and also for continuing with the use of renewable energy and sustainability strategies, the Institute for Renewable Energy (in Spanish “Instituto de Energías Renovables”, IER) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [UNAM; formerly Centre for Energy Research (in Spanish “Centro de Investigación en Energía”, CIE-UNAM)] organized the second edition of the International Symposium on Renewable Energy and Sustainability (ISRES 2013). Frontier advances reached on the development of renewable energy and sustainability, together with future opportunities, and scientific-innovation challenges were highlighted. National and international scientists from different renewable energy and sustainability research fields were brought together. Sustainable energy issues for renewable energy access and to mitigate global climate changes were also discussed. International speakers from worldwide were invited to present the state of art of technologies based on renewable energy and sustainability strategies. This special volume resumes the most important aspects of the symposium through a selection of 15 papers aimed at the renewable energy and sustainability areas over a set of research themes. The papers were evaluated by using a peer review process.