Influence of the Alternative Energy Development on the Cross-Regional Balance of the Ural Federal District

Abstract:

The paper discusses the role of alternative energy development in cross-regional balance in the Ural Federal District (Russia). The paper describes the methodological approaches, assessment criteria and calculations for various scenarios of alternative energy development. The research methodology relies on the calculation of the ratio of the energy consumed in the region to the environmental capacity of the region. We calculate the indicator showing how balanced the regional social, environmental and economic system is. The environmental capacity is determined by the natural landscape of the territory while the energy consumed in the region depends on the environmental intensity of the economic sectors. We found that the use of traditional energy sources such as fossil fuel has a disruptive effect on the cross-regional balance of the Ural Federal District, especially in Chelyabinsk region (the indicator value is 15.02, which is significantly higher than the threshold value). The only exception is the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. This situation also leads to the high average level of greenhouse gas emissions — 0.57 kg / kWh CO2-equivalent. Alternative energy uses material and energy flows circulating in the biosphere without significantly changing them. Our calculations have shown that under the existing forecast scenarios of transition to alternative energy sources with the share of alternative energy sources 3–5 % by 2030 will not bring any substantial change to the situation. To ensure balanced development of the Ural Federal District, it is necessary to increase the share of alternative energy to 46 %.

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