ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES – INFORMATION FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS
Journal Title: Role of Higher Education Institutions in Society: Challenges, Tendencies and Perspectives - Year 2013, Vol 1, Issue 2
Abstract
Wider use of renewable energy sources (RES) is among priorities of EU as well as Lithuanian energy policy. Lithuanian uses almost all sorts of renewable energy – solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass. Development and improvement of RES technologies reduce prices of installations thus making them more attractive for commercial use. However, environmental benefit is not always achieved, i.e., the use of fossil fuel, green-house-gases emissions are still rather high when all technology chain is considered in life cycle analysis. Thus, with regard to implement ambitious aims in energy and environment sectors, one should chose technologies after comprehensive assessment of all energy, environmental, economic and social sustainability criteria. RES technology development is mostly promoted by respective businesses that often provide not thorough and scientific information on various energy-related, technological and environmental aspects, focusing mainly on economic benefit. Society and responsible authorities should have information on planned RES development projects, their impact assessment criteria to make decisions based on objective information. Lithuania has ambitious aims to increase significantly energy generation from renewable sources, which should at least reach 23% in final energy consumption by the year 2020. Currently electricity generation using RES is close to 10%, the share of RES in district heating is coming close to 30% and fuel mix in transport fuel has achieved 5% RES share. Thus total energy share in final consumption exceeded 17% in year 2012. Sustainability of energy development can be evaluated using three groups of criteria: environmental, economic and social, which are defined by a big number of indicators, among which the most significant are greenhouse-gas emissions, energy generation costs, external costs, number of new jobs. In terms of technological development energy efficiency is extremely important factor for viability of RES technologies. Implementation of RES technologies is supported by various promotion schemes, among which the most important are: feed-in tariffs for “green” electricity and favourable connection to grids, public service obligations (PSO) in the electricity sector, support from different foundations, EU and national funds, which provide financing for RES projects, starting with fuel conversion in district heating sector, implementation of RES solutions via buildings renovation, etc. The last and not the least measure is regulatory and promotional legislation, such as access to grid, energy and ecological labelling in district heating, certification of fuel and installations, construction regulations for buildings, etc.
Authors and Affiliations
Vaclovas Kveselis, Eugenija Dzenajavičienė, Aurimas Lisauskas
Keywords
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