Policy conference in Kyiv, Ukraine discussed renewables and energy efficiency in private households
The conference "Current State and Prospects of Alternative Energy Usage in Private Households and Communities of Ukraine" was conducted in Ukrinform Information agency on May 30, 2011
13.07.2011 | Yuri Urbansky, National Ecological Center Ukraine
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An impressive presentation was shown, on the work being done in the the Manevychi region, by Andriy Martynyuk from Ecoclub. This region can be considered as leader in the Western Ukraine developing energy supply based on local renewable resources and implementing cost-effective energy efficiency measures.
The Conference Programme can be found here
Another issue that was discussed during the conference was how much Ukrainian energy legislation represents the interests of individual citizens. Unfortunately, according to experts, the existing legislation requires better implementation, without excuses to the lack of either financing or institutional capacity. The quality of laws and how they interfere also requires further improvement, while state policy misses concrete targets for reduction of energy consumption. Legislation has to simplify implementation of private initiatives in order to widely promote green energy among Ukrainian population.
Talking about financing available for energy efficiency and renewable projects experts could hardly mention any example of source that is available to households and rural communities. According to Ivan Varga, First Deputy Chairman, State Agency for Environmental Investment, money that Ukraine receives on the carbon markets are channelled to relatively large energy projects. Meanwhile presented experience of Poland and Czech Republic proves that it is possible to finance energy efficiency measures in private household and such programs bring benefits to the state as well as to people. E. g. The Czech Green Savings Programme happened to become the most effective to counteract the economic crisis in 2009. Nevertheless there are some signs of optimism in Ukraine too: few private banks took a leading role and provide soft loans for energy efficiency for population.
The conference was organized by National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU) in partnership with WECF, Vidrodzhennia (Tatarbunary) and Ecoclub (Rivne) as part of the Project "Building local capacity for domestic solar heating, hot water and insulation for rural and remote areas in the EEC region" that is implemented with financial support from European Union. Conference organizers bear belief that it will find the valuable place in paving the road for energy policy reform in Ukraine.
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