• Energy Research
• 13. Climate action close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 12. Responsible consumption close
• Kuban State Agrarian University close

Effective use of renewable energy requires a system of energy legislation that meets modern challenges. Although, in large countries, climate and socioeconomic factors in different regions can significantly vary and can affect the regional legislation regulating renewable energy sources, careful reproduction of good practices and successful experiences of other regions are a good basis for the development of legislation. The comparative method of legal research was the main method used to achieve the objectives set in this study. Based on the results, a number of recommendations were developed to consolidate and expand the powers of regional regulators in the field of renewable energy, to include an economic assessment of the effectiveness of state programs, to use tax incentives for renewable energy projects, and to introduce restrictions on the use of petroleum products. Recommendations were also made to improve regional legislation on renewable energy sources in terms of legal techniques. Further development of this study would contribute to the improvement of regional legal regulation and would accelerate the transition to “green” energy.

The aim of the present article is substantiation of theoretical provisions and development of practical recommendations for reporting in the field of sustainable development formation in compliance with the international standard “Guidelines for sustainability reporting” elaborated within the scope of Global Reporting Initiative. The research objectives are as follows: to study the content of non-financial reporting generated in compliance with the GRI guidelines and to offer new methodological approaches towards sustainability reporting formation. Using such general scientific methods as systematic approach, comparison, method of systematization and generalization of data, the research work revealed the essence, content, principles of formation and reporting structure in the field of sustainable development. The work contains recommendations on social activity of accounting organization with the use of information technology, such as: supplementary invoices application for accounting and development of forms for reports containing information of social character.

Scientific, educational, cultural and educational network Journal

The paper deals with the environmental issues of agriculture. Examples are given that pose a threat to the vital activity of living organisms from various types of agricultural and human activities. The subject of the study is the analysis of environmental issues arising from the intensification of the development of agricultural industry. Intensive agricultural activity leads to pollution of surface rivers, lakes, seas and groundwater, soil degradation and aquatic ecosystems; violation of the water regime in large areas during drainage and irrigation; desertification due to wind erosion; destruction of natural habitats of living organisms of flora and fauna. An urgent problem of agriculture is a decrease in the content of vitamins and microelements in crop production and the accumulation of harmful substances in them. The reasons for these negative processes are soil degradation, intensification of agricultural production.

Исследование ландшафтов всегда было традиционным научным направлением географии. В России подобная направленность исследований остаётся актуальной, несмотря на то, что термины «геоэкология» и «ландшафтная экология» сегодня более распространены в англоязычном научном сообществе. Наш краткий обзор показывает значительное ускорение антропогенных ландшафтных изменений в Европе, Центральной Азии и азиатской части России за последние пять десятилетий. Ландшафтные исследования в антропоцене должны быть направлены на достижение и сохранение устойчивости ландшафта при его высокой производительности, что включает в себя прекращение деградации ландшафтов, развитие культурных и сохранение природных ландшафтов. Чистая вода и чистый воздух, плодородные и здоровые почвы для производства продуктов питания и других экосистемных услуг, а также биологически разнообразная зеленая среда являются атрибутами ландшафтов, обеспечивающих выживание и благополучие населения. Дисциплинарные и междисциплинарные исследования должны генерировать знания, инновации и правила принятия действенных решений. Генерация знаний в глобализованном мире основана на сборе больших массивов данных и моделировании сценариев. Международные длительные полевые опыты и системы агроэкологического мониторинга будут предоставлять данные для экосистемных моделей и систем поддержки принимаемых решений. Landscape research has been a traditional scientific discipline of geography. This is still the case in Russia, whilst the terms geo-ecology and landscape ecology have become established in the English speaking scientific community. Our short review reveals huge and accelerating anthropogenic landscape transformations in Europe, Central Asia and Asian Russia since the end the 1960s. Landscape research in the Anthropocene has to focus on achieving landscape sustainability at high productivity. This includes halting landscape degradation, developing cultural landscapes, and maintaining semi-natural landscapes. Clean water and air, fertile and healthy soils for food and other ecosystem services and a green and bio-diverse environment are attributes of landscapes for the survival and well-being of humans. Research has to generate knowledge, innovations and decision rules by disciplinary, interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary work. Knowledge generation in a globalized world is based on big data gathering and scenario modelling. International long-term experiments and agri-environmental monitoring systems will deliver data for ecosystem models and decision support systems.

Scientific, educational, cultural and educational network Journal

The issues of the environmentally friendly business development in Russia are considered in the paper. The authors research the concept of green production and market, management tools for corporate environmental responsibility. The paper examines the environmental innovations as changes in the socio-economic development of the society, which, together with a positive effect, improve the state of the environment or significantly reduce the negative impact on it. In the conclusion, the authors state that the greening of the enterprise’s relations with consumers implies, on the one hand, encouraging the supply of environmental goods and services, and on the other, creating a consumers’ good taste - economic needs and interests oriented to high eco standards. In the paper, the necessity of the green business guidelines implementation in Russia is justified. It helps to form and improve the entrepreneurial culture and a responsible attitude towards society and nature, as well as to promote principles of green economy.

Geothermal heat supply occupies the second place among the renewable energy sources around the world in installed capacity (70.3 GW) and in the amount of generated thermal energy (163 (TW h)/year). It is outperformed only by solar heat supply (480 GW and 395 (TW h)/year). The use of geothermal heat involves the need to drill wells and fulfill special requirements for development of geothermal fields and construction of heat-supply systems. There are deep (more than 400-m deep) and shallow geothermal heat-supply systems (GHSSs). More than 66 geothermal fields have been explored in 11 regions of Russia, and the operating reserves total more than 300 000 m3/day. The installed capacity of Russian GHSSs totals 310 MW. Differences between open- and closed-loop GHSSs are pointed out. For open-loop GHSSs, their typical process circuit arrangements implemented in Krasnodar krai and in the cities of Kizlyar and Makhachkala are presented. The GHSS process circuits with the use of heat pumps (HPs) for recovering the heat of spent geothermal water and systems operating in combination with solar units are considered. Systems that use highly mineralized geothermal heat carriers from different geological horizons with heating of sweet water, as well as GHSSs with pumpless circulation of heat carrier, are described. The article gives examples of GHSSs equipped with geothermal circulation systems (GCSs) implemented in the Khankala geothermal field in the city of Grozny, including the double GCS with the design capacity equal to 8.7 MW and the GCS in the Medvedevka settlement in the Dzhankoi raion of Crimea, a distinctive feature of which is that it uses wellhead methane for generating electricity and for additionally heating the heat carrier in the peaking modes of operation. In constructing open- and closed-loop surface GHSSs, heat pumps are commonly used. In the first case, the heat of underground or surface water bodies is used, while horizontal or vertical heat exchangers are applied in the second case. Examples of geothermal heat-supply systems are given: the surface GHSS in the city of Makhachkala, in which ground heat exchangers in combination with solar units are used, and the GHSS in the city of Krasnodar, which serves for heating an administrative building and for cooling it in summer. The key scientific–technical problems requiring further investigations and development for constructing efficient and competitive geothermal heat-supply systems in different regions of the country are formulated.