«Green» economy is more favorable for sustainable urban development and reduces carbon emissions. Currently, 50% of the world population lives in cities, but they account for 60- 80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions. However, cities have unique opportunities to increase efficiency and productivity, to reduce emissions in buildings and waste, and improve the availability of essential services through innovative transport solutions with low carbon emissions.
Creating «green» cities will increase efficiency and productivity. «Green» city usually have a higher population density, residential development and employment, and the presence of many trade and entertainment infrastructure - subject to certain restrictions in order to avoid traffic jams.
The most important condition for the creation of «green» cities is the modernization of buildings. Heating, lighting, cooling and ventilation of buildings are one of the world's most important sources of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (with emissions of 8.6 billion. tons in terms of CO2). This is due, primarily, the fact that a third of all final energy consumption in the world is going on inside the buildings. Construction of new «green» buildings and refurbishment of existing buildings with high energy and resource consumption would lead to substantial savings at a very low cost, or even make a profit.
According to the definition given in the reports of UNEP, a «green» economy is an economy that improves the welfare of the people and ensures social justice, and thus significantly reduces the risks to the environment and its degradation [1, p. 104]. An important feature of this economy are:
- Efficient use of natural resources;
- Preserving and enhancing natural capital;
- Reduction of pollution;
- Low carbon emissions;
- Preventing the loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity;
- The growth of incomes and
The transition to «green» economy in different countries will be different because it depends on the specifics of natural, human and physical capital of each country, its level of development and socio- economic priorities, ecological culture of society. Sustained economic growth depends on a number of factors, including, and the policy of improving energy efficiency of the economy.
According McKinsey, existing technologies can reduce CO2 emissions by 3.5 gigatons in the average cost of minus US $ 35 per tonne (ie, profit), while electricity supply from renewable sources has increased [2, p. 45]. If a similar project will be implemented on a global scale, according to various forecasts, including forecasts of the International Energy Agency, an annual investment 300-1000 bln. Dollars (depending on the assumptions used) up to 2050 would reduce global energy consumption in the construction sector in the third. The most important condition for achieving these results is the state policy of energy efficiency.
Traditional economic indicators such as GDP and other macroeconomic aggregates may give the wrong idea about the efficiency of the economy, including due to the fact that these figures do not reflect a negative impact of the production and consumption on natural capital. Depleting natural resources or reducing the ability of ecosystems to perform their useful functions, such as food supply, regulation and satisfy their cultural needs, economic activity is often accompanied by the depreciation of natural capital. The lack of alternative investments or reduction of natural capital to a critical level, excluding the provision of economically important or vital ecosystem services can prevent future growth.
Changes in inventories of resources can be estimated in money and reflect on the national accounts, which is currently being done in the development of the System of Environmental- Economic Accounting (SEEA, System of Environmental and Economic Accounting) Statistical Division of the UN Secretariat and the World Bank can take into account the change in the adjusted net national savings. The growing use of these additional indicators, including net domestic product and genuine savings rates, would have allowed a more accurate and realistic picture of the output and total inclusive wealth, including inventories, human and natural capital.
Currently, research is conducted to identify the indicators of a green economy. Among the most important is to provide a study by UNEP in collaboration with other international organizations and states, as well as other UN agencies. UN Statistical Commission adopted in 2012 as an International Standard System of Environmental- Economic Accounting, which takes into account changes in the state of natural capital (water, fish and land resources, ecosystems and so forth.). The World Bank has developed an index adjusted net savings. Such work is carried out and other organizations, regional agreements and individual countries such as the EU (Beyond GDP) and the OECD (Measuring progress in the development of societies). Almost all the proposed options include productive use of the main types of resources, ecosystems, investment in innovation and «green» markets, as well as the welfare of the people.
Currently, there are three main blocks of green economy indicators:
- Indicators of economic transformation. At the present time, economic growth is usually generated from investments in industries with high CO2 emissions, resource-intensive and environmentally harmful. The green economy requires investments in low-carbon, clean of waste, resource-efficient and environmental fields of The main indicators of economic transformation, therefore, include investments in renewable energy sources or industry that requires further development of environmentally friendly production of goods and services and create appropriate jobs. Some existing statistical classifications in the national accounts, such as the sector of environmental goods and services, developed by Eurostat, provides a suitable starting point for measuring the transformation to a green economy, along with various initiatives, sometimes in the private sector, to monitor green investment flows.
- Indicators of resource efficiency. The main advantage of economic transformation - except the expected net income growth and jobs, at least in the medium and long term is improving resource efficiency in relative or absolute terms. Key indicators include - the use of materials, energy, water, land, changes in ecosystems, waste and emissions associated with business International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management has proposed appropriate indicators to capture some of these effects, which can serve as a basis for further work in this area. For various resources and indicators are usually already available (for example, emissions of carbon and energy), or in the development process (e.g., accounting using water).
- Indicators of progress and prosperity. A green economy can contribute to society in two Firstly, redirecting investment towards green products and services they can help meet the basic needs, such as access to clean energy, safe water and adequate sanitation. Second, they contribute to a redistribution of investment to strengthen the
Figure 1 – The algorithm impact of the energy factor on the GDP using the economic - mathematical models
The methodology for calculating the energy efficiency indicators for the industry in 2005 the primary method of determining the energy efficiency index was elected to the specific consumption per unit of added value, and the specific consumption of the physical volume of production was proposed as an alternative energy, then later changed that opinion. With regard to the industry formed a different opinion that the indicators per unit of added value are not the best choice, and, whenever possible, preference should be given indicators showing consumption per unit of output in the physical dimension. Therefore, in the later work of the IEA on the industry they are used [4, p. 5]. The advantages of this approach is that the values of the indicators do not affect the price, they are directly related to the process are the best gauges of technological efficiency can be directly used to estimate the potential energy savings. In the services sector is recommended that the indicators of the main types of final consumption of the service sector, such as heating, space cooling, domestic hot water, lighting and other equipment. At the same time the service sector include the following main categories: offices, retail, government, healthcare, education, warehousing, catering and hotel services, arts, entertainment and recreation.
For the category of «heating» is the recommended consumption for heating per unit of heated area. For the category of "hot water" is recommended for hot water consumption per unit of activity in each category of services. This indicator requires a significant effort tocollect data. For the category of «space cooling» is recommended to cool the power consumption per unit area cooled. For the category «Lighting» is the recommended consumption for lighting per unit of activity in each category of services. Energy consumption per unit of activity for each category of services is the recommended rate for the category of «other equipment». Other equipment is very diverse categories of services. For example, computers are used in the restaurants is limited but widely used refrigerators and ovens; widely used in offices, computers and printers, but very rarely the oven. In the context of energy balances and energy efficiency the transport sector covers the energy consumption for the transport of persons (passenger transport) and goods (freight) in any kind of economic activity or the end-use sectors (residential, service). Therefore, when considering the transport energy efficiency is not tied to any specific activity. In order to calculate the energy efficiency in the transport sector only includes transportation within national borders and eliminates the consumption of air and sea international bunker fuels, and excludes the supply of fuel for off-road use and stationary engines, as well as military consumption, transport via pipelines and trucks, not considered in other categories.
The recommended indicator for passenger cars has a power consumption per passenger-kilometer for each mode of transport / vehicle type. The recommended rate for trucks is the power consumption per tonne-kilometer for each mode of transport / vehicle type. For energy efficiency, tonne-kilometer is the equivalent of cargo passenger and passenger-kilometers are the most important activity data.
Final energy consumption in the residential sector can be grouped into six main categories: heating, space cooling, hot water, cooking, lighting and appliances. A common indicator recommended by the IEA is the energy consumption of the housing sector, based on the premises.
For the category of «heating» is the recommended consumption for heating per unit of heated area. For the category of "hot water" is recommended for hot water consumption per dwelling. Hot water supply in the housing sector is also called the hot water for domestic use. For the category of «space cooling» is recommended to cool the power consumption per unit area cooled. For the category «lighting» is the recommended consumption for lighting per occupied dwelling. However, the correct calculation of the above factors the differences can get pretty reliable quantitative comparison of levels of energy efficiency.
Absolutization purely economic and financial indicators, they ignore environmental and social factors indicate the need for a radical correction to the traditional market system development paradigm and to find adequate indicators for the new path. For many countries, this approach is extremely important: it is impossible to achieve sustainable development based on the exploitation of natural capital, especially non-renewable energy resources. The transition to sustainable development and «green» economy necessitates the inclusion of environmental factors in key socio- economic development indicators. Available now in this field of traditional macroeconomic indicators (GDP, GNI, per capita income and others) ignore environmental degradation. For many countries of the world focus on traditional economic indicators in the short term may have the most negative consequences. The fastest growth of these indicators (thus formally make progress in socio-economic development) can be reached quickly extracted the oil, gas, mining ore and coal from the depths, cutting down forests, increasing the load on the ground, using «dirty» technology. Many energy program and mining can increase GDP. However these police are obvious and extremely negative environmental consequences.
Two Nobel Prize in economics J. Stiglitz and Sen in «On the measurement of economic development and social progress» emphasize the need for new approaches to the assessment of the progress related to sustainability [5]. To monitor the process of transition to sustainable development and «green» economy in the world and some countries need to develop a system of indicators. We believe that it is necessary to evaluate the possibilities and prospects of development of «green economy» in the following areas: the development of renewable energy sources; «greening» of the sector utilities (heating and lighting of buildings); the development of «clean» transport (public transport, alternative fuels); improving the management of water resources; improving land management and the "greening" of agriculture; improving waste management.
References
- Green Economy Report, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, UNEP, 2011
- Melnik A.N. Povishenue energetiheskou effectivnostu prouzvodstva kak vazneehee napravlenue otehestvenno economici// Problemi teorii I practicu upravlenua. – 2010. – №12. – S. 8–17.
- Melnik А.N., Sadriev R. Vluanie mirovogo finansovogo crisis кризиса na rasvitie otechectvennou energetici // Problemi sovremennoi economici. – 2010. – №1. – S. 21-26.
- Melnic A.N., Anicimova U. Ozenka vluania energeticheskogo factora na razvitie otechestvennou economici v crizisnux ucloviax. // Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seria: Gumanitarnii nauki. – 2010. – № 11 (91). – S. 199-206.
- Stiglitz , Sen A., Fitoussi J. The measurement of economic performance and social progress revisited // OFCE. – 2009. – № 2009-33. – P. 3-150