This case study examines the sustainability of Ukraine's energy system. It identifies several key issues including: 1) a Soviet-era mindset of overconsumption of free resources with little regard for the environment; 2) a lack of understanding of energy measures and innovation; and 3) economic problems like shadow markets, short-term planning, and political interference. Additional problems covered include high capital asset aging, resource import reliance, low renewable usage, transmission losses, overconsumption, and non-payment for services. The conclusion is that Ukraine's energy system suffers from diverse social, economic, ecological, technological and political problems and cannot currently be considered sustainable.

1. Case Study
Sustainability of Ukrainian Energy
System
Main Problems

2. Sustainable Development
Scheme
Environmental Protection
Social Development Economic development

3. Social Aspect
n Former Soviet Union citizen way of
thinking and behavior:
¡ Thinking and acting locally in time and
space horizon;
¡ “It’s not mine, so I don’t care about it”;

4. Reasoning
n Huge
environmental
resources
n Inexhaustible
fossil fuel
resources for
free

5. Reasoning
n Man being a part
of state production
machine

6. Social Aspect
n Ukrainian society doesn’t have complete
understanding that energy and heat have
qualitative and quantitative measures and that
they are goods;
n Persons in charge of taking decisions are afraid
of innovations and changes, they care only
about their own position, not about the branch
they are responsible for;
n Ukrainian people mostly don’t feel civil
responsibility (if one doesn’t have a water meter
he can just leave the tap turned on and let the
water run for no particular reason);

7. Economical Aspects
n Getting resources and producing
waste for free;
n Not counting amount of resources we
use …
n … and waste;
n Short-term planning;
n Absence of competitive energy market
and appropriate market infrastructure;

8. Economical Aspects
n Politization of energetic sphere and
scramble for this sphere between
political parties, financial and industrial
groups and criminals;
n “manual management” of the energy
market;

9. Environmental Protection
n Low level of environmental safety of fuel and
energy complex of Ukraine (it produces 45%
of atmosphere pollution, 25% of waste
water, 26% of solid waste, 65% of
greenhouse effect gasses);
n Absence of control and penalties for
environmental pollution and producing
waste;

10. Sustainable Energy System
Production
Transfer Consumption

11. Production of Energy
n High level of capital assets ageing in fuel and
energy complex, which causes energy
resources overconsumption and raises the
possibility of technological disasters;
n Destruction of R&D potential in fuel and energy
complex and low innovative activity of power
concerns;
n Shadow economy in fuel and energy complex,
shadow redistribution of ownership rights and
resources turnover;

12. Production of Energy
n Critical dependence of fuel and energy
complex on resources imported from one
country (Russia);
n Low usage of renewable resources and
alternative power engineering (for example
use of attendant gas in coal mines or
thermal waters in Crimea and Carpathians,
which are at 1-2 km drilling depth and have
a temperature around 110 C);

13. Transfer of Energy
n Huge energy losses due to
depreciated transmission and
distribution channels;
n Non-optimal ratio of decentralized and
centralized electro generating
capacities (7% to 93%);

14. Consumption of Energy
n Extremely high power-consuming of gross
domestic product (0.89 kg of standard fuel
per 1$ of product);
n Great portion of natural gas in fuel and
energy balance, 2/3 of natural gas is utilized
by metallurgy and chemical industry;
n Cheapness of energy for the industry and
municipal sector;

15. Consumption of Energy
n Lack of control for consumed
resources (only 1/3 of apartments in
Ukraine are equipped with heat and
hot water meters);
n Non-payments or barter transactions
for consumed energy;

16. Conclusion
Ukrainian Energy System suffers from a
diversity of social, economical, ecological,
technological and political problems, so we
cannot treat it as a sustainable system.
Realizing and solving them can make Energy
System of Ukraine effective and
sustainable.