Traditional energy sources vs. renewable – what will determine the future?

Stephan Kohler, Chief Executive of the German Energy Agency, which has been developing new energy policy for Germany, believes, that the problem of energy efficiency keeps growing with the global climate change accross the world.

"The influence of the energy industry on the atmospheric emission of carbon dioxide is immense! It equals to approximately 41% all emissions. However the motor transport which is believed to be the polluter of the environment, emits approx. 22%, industry –  20%, –  stated Mr. Kohler. –  I believe the carbon dioxide to be one of the strongest factors causing the "greenhouse effect" influencing the climate".

According to the expert, the objective of the German new energy policy is to stop all nuclear reactors until 2022 and switch to using the renewable energy sources as much as possible. As a result (providing other states participate in this process) it will be possible to constrain the growth of the average annual temperature on the Earth. Mr. Kohler indicated, by means of increasing the use of the renewable energy sources in the world it is possible to reduce the volume of polluting emissions by 50% and in Russia by 73%.

Presently the use of the energy obtained from the sun, the wind and other so called renewable sources is being constrained by the slow development of the energy storage solutions. Exactly this aspect deserves attention of the scientists in the nearest perspective. Stephan Kohler said, the energy system in Germany gains 24% of its capacity from renewable sources. However there is an opinion, that it is the limit indicator and any further development is impossible without integration of this energy into the existing grids and introduction of energy storage solutions (accumulators, batteries and so on).

Professor of the Otto von Guericke University Zbigniew Styczynski (Magdeburg, Germany) has been developing grids with a high energy storage capacity. Although his arguments in favour of the renewable energy sources are based not on the global warming argument, but on the estimates that the coal, crude oil and natural gas stocks are exhaustible and will have to be substituted.

According to the Russian scientists, for Siberia it is a very distant perspective. Doctor of Engineering Sciences Gennadiy Nozdrenko quotes figures telling that coal reserves in Siberia will suffice for the next 600 years. And increasing use of renewable energy sources is necesessary first of all to ensure the regulated parameters of atmospheric emission pollutants. He assumes, our region has the foremost task of educating the population in the field of efficient use of energy resources and reduction of the harm caused to the environment as a result of human activity.

At the exhibition "Elcom Russia 2013", which is taking place in "Novosibirsk Expo Centre" at the same time as the Forum, producers from Europe, CIS states and Russia present the newest developments in the field of efficient energy use, which can be applied immediately both at the works and in the households.