| Ukraine is too poor to invest in green energy
Green energy is energy from the sun, wind, water and heat of the Earth – energy from the resources that are not exhaustible in the foreseeable future. Resource base of fossil fuels on the planet is constantly decreasing, so green energy is being discussed as one of the most effective alternatives to conventional energy in the future. Moreover, green energy does not harm the environment, therefore, the attention to it is growing.
Nevertheless at the moment the cost of green energy production is uncompetitive. In Ukraine green energy costs on average 5 times as much as conventional one. The difference is currently subsidized by the state budget. For the time being green energy accounts for less than 1% in power balance of the country, and such subsidies do not have an essential effect on the budget. But if we intend to provide for real energy diversification, green energy share and consequently budgetary burden should considerably increase.
Is investment of government funds in green energy reasonable at this point? Are there better options available to ensure energy security for the country? At the moment green energy production is not competitive
Arguments FOR the motion
Green energy is not the best choice if we want to ensure steady supply of energy. Capability of wind and solar energy production directly depends on uncertain climate conditions, and effective technologies for its conservation are not yet available. Such energy may be considered as additional benefit, but one can’t consider it as one of the main sources for providing citizens with heat and electricity. Furthermore, generation of energy from biomass is not a solution as well, bearing in mind the fact that the energy return on energy invested ratio for biofuels is close to one. The country has much more effective ways to solve the problem. According to the World Bank, energy efficiency improvement taken alone would provide for energy consumption reduction in Ukraine by 30%. Moreover, cheap, stable and CO2- clean energy source already exists and this is nuclear power.
Nuclear power and energy efficiency improvement will ensure more sustainable result for less money
Major costs of green energy generation require substantial capital expenditures. The moment it is installed, further production does not cost anything (except maintenance costs). The price of such equipment constantly falls while new and cheaper technologies are being developed. Thus it is reasonable to wait till rich countries develop technologies which would provide for cost-effective generation of green energy and only then to start investing in it in Ukraine; then it won’t be necessary to pass on costs of technological underdevelopment on Ukrainian taxpayers. Furthermore, by that time technologies on green energy conservation may be also available. In Ukraine green power should be developed only after rich countries create cost-effective technologies for its generation and conservation
Arguments AGAINST the motion
There is no real alternative to green energy in the future. The problem with nuclear power is that it is neither safe nor low cost, contrary to popular belief. Accidents at the Chernobyl power plant and Fukushima proved that it is impossible to foresee all force majeure circumstances during nuclear plant construction and the consequences could be catastrophic. Moreover, while calculating nuclear energy costs one usually does not take into account the costs of deactivation of time-expired plants. If one includes those costs, then one can find nuclear energy to be not so cheap. That is why it is not the best choice to compensate for a shortcoming of carbon-based fuel by nuclear one. Green energy does not contain such risks, and the price of its production soon will be significantly reduced. In addition the advantage of green power plants is their flexibility: they can be turned on and off much quicker in reflection of demand fluctuations.
Green energy is the most secure and flexible alternative to conventional energy
It is of great importance to begin to develop green energy right now, so that it could compensate for conventional energy shortage in the future and people would not experience deficit of energy supply. While carbon-based fuel resources are running low, its price will be mounting. This will considerably increase expenses on green power plants construction. Moreover it will inevitably cause energy shortage until green capacities are put into operational use. For this reason it is necessary to invest into green energy while standby capacities still exist. Furthermore a multistep transformation of power infrastructure towards green energy is required to ensure uninterrupted energy supply. It will require elaboration of a long-term action plan, and its implementation should commence straight away. It is necessary to start developing green energy now, there is no time to lose
The question of whether it is worthwhile for Ukraine to develop green energy now will be discussed in the course of the public debate organized by the Foundation for Effective Governance in partnership with Intelligence Squared on the 1st of December, 2011 in Kiev
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