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ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGES OF

INCREASED POWER EXCHANGE

Environmental protection, especially air pollution prevention is one of the main issues of the

energy sector today. Acidification of soil and water and the threat of climate change are well-known
examples of the environmental technology, increasing environmental awareness and improved

scientific knowledge of the environmental effects of different pollutants have lead to international
and national efforts to avoid or reduce the problems. Western electricity producers with their huge

investments in environmental protection activities between different regions, for instance between

different countries around Baltic Sea.
According to the best available information the acidic deposition still exceeds the critical

loads by a factor of 2-4 even in the areas f the lowest deposition, i.e. in the Nordic countries. In the
southern parts of the Baltic Sea region this factor is higher.

The origins of these unbalances are various. Natural resources, including energy resources,
are different in the different parts of the Baltic Sea region. The northern parts have a lot of clean

hydro and safe nuclear power whereas fossil fuels lay a dominant role in the southern parts.

However, the most decisive factor behind the unbalances in today’s situation is the
economy. As a consequence of the former political situations in the eastern and southern part of the

Baltic Sea region the economy does not allow to do all the environmental protection measures,

which would be needed. In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland alone 30 percent reduction of SO 2
emissions and the freezing of NO x emissions would require investments of 10 billion USD.

Because atmospheric pollutants do not recognize national borders, international cooperation
is the only way to solve the problems. Some of the international agreements are listed below:

INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

(Atmospheric emissions)

 UN Convention on the transboundary pollution, Geneva 1979.

 Protocol of Helsinki 1985: 30% reduction of sulfur emissions between 1980 and

1993, additional declaration of 50% reduction by 11 countries.