The world is moving towards alternative energy - Saltanat Rakhimbekova
- What countries Kazakhstan follows while drifting towards a green economy?
- South Korea adopted a strategy to switch to a green economy between 2005 and 2007. The country is among the first ones, as well as some European countries such as Germany, France, including East European countries, which began to upgrade housing and public utilities in the 1990s as housing facilities are among big consumers. The upgrading enabled to save on heating, water, electricity. Therefore, green or environmental thinking should be spread among office employees, as well as ordinary people, given its fundamental rules. It is also important that our country proposed the Green Bridge Program in 2010, envisaging countries’ transition to a green economy. Before its launch, the European experience was considered. The First Kazakh President put forward the program in 2010 at the Astana Economic Forum, and, in 2013, our environmental initiative was announced at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, which was supported by over 100 countries. This program is a very important strategic document in countries’ transition to a green economy. Owing to such initiatives, Kazakhstan is also in the vanguard of the countries that put forward such green initiatives. We are willing to promote the world’s only environmental initiative.
- How Kazakhstan joined the Earth Hour movement?
- For over the last 5-6 years, the Coalition has been one of the initiators of such big holding of the Earth Hour movement. Governor’s and Mayor’s offices receive letters asking to join such an environmental movement, to switch off the famous sites’ lamps, thus drawing attention not to the reason, but to the environmental demeanor, vision, behavior. So, we jointly could save our plant. This is a very important global initiative.
- Are Kazakhstanis willing to change their environmental thinking?
Yes, they are. This can be seen by the increasing number of innovators we are working with. The Arnasay new technology center involving a great deal of people from different specialties and areas was launched. These people are willing to further utilize these technologies at home. They start to use the same water-saving, heat-saving technologies we use. Farmers, who apply such green technologies, think of cost-efficiency whether in open or closed field.
- While answering to the presence of waste management companies, you tell their number grows.
- The number of companies specializing in re-cycling rises. The Enhanced Producer Responsibility program envisages subsidies to the companies that are willing to collect sorted waste used to produce secondary goods. So, the Program and the concept of switching to a green economy contribute to the occurrence of such companies that utilize waste while boosting business.
- How Kazakhstan develops alternative energy sources?
- It is from last year, auctions take place, with over 30 companies which partook. Last year auctioned off solar and wind sub-stations of 1 gigawatt. Nowadays, over 30 companies work to set up tens of such solar and wind stations within 2 years. In 2018, the share of renewable energy sources stood at 1.1% in its energy mix, further growing to 3% by 2020. Sunny days, winds contribute to the productivity of such stations. It is also important to build bio-stations, which will recycle waste into energy. Solar energy falls in price worldwide. Last year auction held in the Emirates demonstrated that 1 kilowatt of solar energy costed 2 cents. While technologies are increasingly improved, the cost of 1 kilowatt generated in an alternative way reduces. The world is moving towards alternative energy, which is most importantly environmentally friendly.
- Thank you for the interview!
Adlet Seilkhanov
