FACTORS OF ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS IN ECONOMIC ASPECT

Abstract

In the social and scientific sphere, there is no universally accepted opinion regarding the number and significance of factors influencing the process of energy transformations. Scientists discuss about techno-economic factors such as the evolution of demand and security of energy resources supply; socio-technical factors involve the transformation of socio-technical regimes through the dissemination of new energy technologies; political factors encompass prioritizing nuclear, coal, renewable energy sources, combating climate change, ensuring energy security, and integration into intergovernmental and supranational unions, among others. By analyzing scientific papers and examining political and administrative-legal acts related to energy development, economy, internal and external policies, the main factors stimulating sustainable energy transformations in the modern world, according to the author of the article, can be grouped into categories of economic, ecological, climatic, politico-administrative (social) and technological factors. Almost all of them are interconnected and contain an economic component, since they can be expressed in monetary terms. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the factors influencing the process of energy transformations in the 21st-century society. The focus is on the factors that can be considered fundamental for the process of energy transformations in modern society. Most of the statements and facts presented in the study pertain to periods of stability, but the impact of crisis times, such as the Russo-Ukrainian war, has also been taken into account. Like any social-political cataclysm, it significantly alters the practice of using energy resources, elevating the satisfaction of energy needs for both individual consumers and the economy as a whole to a higher level of priority than concerns about the "cleanliness" of the energy resource. However, despite this, renewable energy sources gain even greater significance during and after the consequences of military actions. The implementation of new approaches, both political and technological, in practice will inevitably lead to changes in the state's policy regarding the perception and implementation of climate, ecological, economic, and energy criteria for Ukraine's recovery and economic development.