Vízügyi Közlemények, 2002 (84. évfolyam)
1. füzet - Kozák Miklós: A vízerő-hasznosítás és a lefolyás-szabályozás, mint a fenntartható fejlődés alapjai
114 Kozák Miklós Hydropower utilisation and runoff control as the bases of sustainable development by Dr. Miklós KOZÁK C.E., DSc. In the 21 s t Century the existence of mankind is at risk for, among others, the following reasons: — Processes of the production of goods and our way of living are mutually devastating each other; — Decisions are frequently made not only on the basis of expertise but on that of the rapidly changing political interests; — "Independent experts ", considering themselves polyhistors, who know everything, are being born at rapid rates. The slogan of "sustainable development" is also loosing its meaning, as the present prodigal way of life is not only non-sustainable, but it also makes sustainability thimbleringing. A typical example is the self-deceiving concept, which dominates the fields of water and energy management. Some "experts" believe that the renewable energy based hydropower plant, which requires large investment, is not a competitor of caloric power plants. They forget an important fact; namely that these two way of power production cannot be compared, since the latter are using a resource, robbed from Earth, which is just being exhausted (without paying for it). The world is building hydropower stations at an increasing rate (Table /.), while in Hungary the opposite thing happens. In the EU one has timely recognized that renewable energy is the prerequisite of sustainable development. The result was that hydropower utilisation has a preference and financial support. Mankind has entered the third millennium with putting its three most important preconditions of existence, water, air and energy supply, subject to day-by-day increasing hazards. There are several reasons to support this statement. The most important one is that the population of the Earth is increasing at an unhaltable rate. The water resource available for drinking water, as an essential element of existence, is not in harmony with the users' demands, neither in quantity and quality nor in temporal and spatial distribution. Fifteen per cent of the world's population is responsible for 60% of the pollution (Figure 1.). In Hungary it is widely recognized that the water and mineral resources of the country are in a highly unfavourable state since the "Trianon" peace treaty (Translator's note: the treaty after the 1 s t World War, in which Hungary lost more than two-third of her territory). Mankind has long ago recognised that there are energy resources that are continuously and free of charge renewed by Mother Nature. These are the renewing (solar, water, wind, geothermal and wave) and the renewable (bio and hydrogen) energies, which are being continuously renewed by the natural (hydrological and meteorological) cycles of nature. Among these renewable energies hydropower utilisation, which had been recognized more than 100 years ago, is the most efficient one. In the beginning of the third millennium the energy consumption of mankind is 15,000 TWh/year, which might be increased, according to forecasts, to 45,000 by the year 2050. Fossil fuelled (caloric) power stations are responsible for air pollution, as it is well indicated by Figure 2. It follows from the above considerations that renewable energy resources shall play a dominating role in the alleviation of climatic changes and in securing sustainability. Experiences with the hydropower stations, many of which was built more than 100 years ago and are still in operation, indicate that these power stations yield the cleanest "green energy". This way Austria got 300 000 Euro for investing into the Fraudeanau hydropower station.
