SOCIETY AND SECURITY INSIGHTS
164 № 1 2018
Nowadays an important peculiarity of world development rests on complicated
questions of energy security and energy eciency. Energy determines development, level
of prosperity and life conditions in all aspects of human activity providing electricity,
heat, and transport for most of the needs. However, resources for energy that have been
conventionally used such as oil, natural gas, and coal are limited and consuming them
in a “business as usual” scenario can lead to their end even before the year 2100 (Goro
-
dov, 2009: 17). Moreover, extraction, production and utilization of these kinds of energy
resources are main contributors to environmental degradation and climate change. Re
-
source scarcity and uneven distribution among the countries causes concerns of its future
rational consumption and creation ways to replace energy dependence on natural fossil
fuels. In this regard, signicant attention is paid on renewable energy sources as sun, wind,
water, warmth of earth bowels, and biomass. Renewable energy sources can solve not only
ecological problems, but social, political, and economic as well. Furthermore, RES di
-
rectly or indirectly inuence on the achievement of other sustainable development goals.
The widespread development and transition to renewable energy sources in many
developed countries represent a good example for the Central Asian countries. The imple
-
mentation of RES in the region is especially relevant since the energy security constitutes
one of the crucial aspects in international relations of Central Asian states. In a whole
the region has signicant reserves of natural fossil fuel resources, however their unequal
distribution among the countries and inecient energy management create threats to de
-
velopment of the whole Central Asia. Therefore, renewable energy sources aim to play
a contributive role in reducing electricity decit, maintaining energy security, increasing
independence on nite natural resources, improving social conditions and ecological sit
-
uations.
The relevance of the research topic is especially underlined in the frames of upcom
-
ing exhibition EXPO-2017 the slogan of which is the Future Energy. This theme high-
lights the importance of global tendency on transition to more ecological clean, safe and
sustainable energy with realization of world targets of sustainable development goals.
Kazakhstan, as the biggest Central Asian country, also plays a big role in promotion
of the development of ecological clean, safe and sustainable energy sphere making accent
on the renewables. However, RE in the country had not been so well developed, since
there was no necessity because of the abundant reserves of mineral resources. The biggest
part of energy production came from fossil fuels and economic development was in pri
-
ority, i.e. it was above ecological and social factors. Nevertheless, recent global trends
and promotion of RE eectiveness and transition towards its wide implementation coin
-
cided with Kazakhstan’s devotions for sustainable development.
According to the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On support for using renew
-
able energy sources” from July 4, 2009, the denition for RES is following: “it is the
energy sources that are constantly renewed due to natural processes and they include next
types: solar radiation energy, wind power, hydrodynamic water energy, geothermal ener
-
gy: ground warmth, ground waters, rivers, reservoirs, as well as anthropogenic sources
of primary energy resources: biomass, biogas and other fuel from organic wastes used for
electric and/or thermal energy” (O podderzhke ispolzovaniya...).