Velcheva O.I., English language advisor. В статті розглянуто як позитивний, так і негативний вплив впровадження та використання альтернативних джерел енергії

В статті розглянуто як позитивний, так і негативний вплив впровадження та використання альтернативних джерел енергії.

Today the questions of ecology and energy security are of the great concern all over the world because they exert influence on people’s lives. The increasing environmental pollution, heat disbalance of atmosphere have gradually resulted in global climate changes. The deficit of energy and limited fuel resources show the inevitability of changing to alternative sources of energy. As alternative sources are based on solar energy and wind one they are environmental friendly and renewable. In addition, renewable energy resources can be found everywhere and this means that the countries focused on innovative technologies with highly qualified workforce and effective financial structure will become the leaders in field of alternative energy.

The importance and currency of fast changing to alternative sources of energy may be considered under the following aspects as:

· Ecologica l-it’s well-known fact of pernicious influence on environment of traditional energy technologies, because they lead to global climate and landscape changes, e.g. vast fertile areas were flooded under the building of the dam;

· Political - it means that the country which develops the alternative sources of energy faster than others will become a global leader in this sphere and set the prices on the fuel resources thus influencing the global economy, because the traditional resources of energy will be exhausted in hundred years;

· Economical - the cost of alternative energy is lower that that of traditional sources, moreover the cover terms of expenditure for building alternative power stations are shorter. Furthermore, the prices on traditional sources of energy are constantly rising;

· Social –the population is increasing and it becomes difficult to find vast areas needed for building new power stations both nuclear and hydro ones where it would be profitable and safe for environment and people. It’s well –known facts that the level of cancer diseases and other disease is higher in areas closed to the stations [3].

Speaking about the necessity of using of alternative energy we should take into account other aspects of “green policy” such as:

· cost, because developing the alternative technologies are rather expensive comparatively with traditional ones as they need new infrastructure and maintenance is also problematic because new methods of energy productions require skilled workforce;

· consumer confidence, because people who will use alternative forms of energy for their personal use should change their behavior and attitude to the environment;

· unpredictable consequences, which can cause the change not only in climate but in ecosystem at whole (desertification may be the reason of expanding of the desert area and deforestation can reduce the ability of trees to recycle carbon emissions and, in its turn, it increases greenhouse effect);

· low reliability, because the wind and solar energy are sustainable under certain weather and climate conditions and preferable only on the territories where the wind is regular and the sun is expected to shine the whole day[1].

By using alternative sources of energy people can make their lives easier and reduce the environmental pollution, but, on the other hand, it may complicate the life. As it was mentioned above consumers’ behavior should become more conscious.

According to the data of experts the extraction of fossil fuel (coal, oil, gas) will be shortened from 70% to 20% in 2020. The scientists suppose that people will have reached the point at which the demand on oil production starts to fall. The share of hydroenergetics in the world energy production is only 1,5% and it means that it cannot be used as the main source for energy production along with organic fuel. The fact that uranium deposits will be also exhausted in the 21^st century means that the nuclear energy can not be considered as the another major source of energy. The cost of nuclear energy, then the further utilization of radioactive waste are rather expensive. Also the accidents happened on nuclear power stations have unforeseen and pernicious consequences on humans lives and the planet at whole [3].

It is so much spoken about the wind and solar energy but we should also pay our attention on water resource because it is compared with the oil on its importance in developing alternative sources of energy. Some scientists predict that in the future the third of population on the Earth will suffer from the lack of water in some regions and even now more than 1,1 billion of people haven’t enough pure fresh water It is amazing fact but great amount of water is needed for growing sugarcane which is ideal raw material for production of ethanol used in some kinds of biofuel. After extraction of different ores by open-cast vast territories are flooded and it disbalances the ecosystem of those regions. There are some ways of solving problems of water supply: special tarification of water using or building of special atomic stations for water desalination. But countries (India, Japan and Kazakhstan) where such kind of stations are built to confirm that the cost of water after desalination becomes really high.

Today people hardly imagine their life without cars. But electromobiles become more popular rather than ordinary ones in developed countries of Europe, the USA and Asia, because they allow to get rid of oil dependence and reduce the carbon emissions. In spite of positive aspects of electromobiles there is a problem of lithium used as fuel for batteries, because the main deposits of lithium are concentrated in Chile and Bolivia, which have strenuous relationship for a long time.

In conclusion, it is clear that introduction of “green policy” is able not only to solve a lot of problems but create another ones. It means that there are many economic bonuses from implement of alternative energy technologies, but certain market sectors and various countries can be negatively affected. Alternative energy is considered to be more environmentally friendly than traditional fossil fuels and nuclear power, but not without risk. While some technologies produce little or no pollution, the environmental effects on plants and animals can be severe.[2] If people all over the world, for example, start using electromobiles instead of cars, the competition for lithium used as fuel for batteries will begin, but lithium is limited resource. As it was mentioned above, for creating some alternative sources a lot of water is needed that, in turn, can lead to water disbalance in other regions of our planet. So such “green policy” should be introduced in the light of various aspects mentioned in this article.

Date: 2015-07-25; view: 274; Нарушение авторских прав