ASU Professor Answers Astrakhan Citizens’ Questions about Alternative Energy Advantages

Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Automatics, Head of the Research & Educational Centre “Alternative Energy” of Astrakhan State University Larisa Zaynutdinova spoke about the reasons of the growing popularity of renewable sources of energy and their use in the modern world in a live programme on Radio of Russia Astrakhan and Russia 24 Channel.

Larisa Zaynutdinova reminded that the traditional energy sector implies electrical energy production from hydrocarbons — oil, gas and coal. It’s widespread, but these resources are exhaustible, that is why it is becoming more difficult and expensive to produce them from year to year. According to the process, another disadvantage of such power engineering is high emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. That is why alternative energy, i.e. the use of wind, solar, water and biomass energy, is becoming increasingly interesting. Besides, new technologies that make the use of renewable energy sources economically competitive are being rapidly developed over the last years.

The programme participants noted that solar energy is relevant for Astrakhan region due to its climate. The experts talked about the availability and popularity of solar stations in our region and explained what bi-directional meters are and what advantages they have, whether it is possible to fully equip a detached or summer house with solar panels, how long such projects are repaid and how much they cost.

On air, the professor also talked about the work of the Alternative Energy Centre, created at ASU in 2008. As Larisa Zaynutdinova said, the activity of the unit is aimed at promotion of scientific developments and attraction of scientific achievements in the educational process. The centre infrastructure and resources, including testing photoelectric systems, allows the scientists to do advanced research and train students.