Ruslana Lyzhychko, the famous singer in Ukraine known simply as Ruslana, was appointed as an international ambassador for renewable energy on Sep. 28 at a Global Wind Summit in Hamburg, Germany, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stefan Gsänger, secretary general of the World Wind Energy Association, presented Ruslana the official certificate during the world’s leading exposition for wind energy.
“I am fully committed to helping the critical transition towards 100 percent renewable energy, and to the basic right of all humans to use renewable energy,” Ruslana said, according to the association.
Ruslana gained wide popularity after winning the Eurovision song contest in 2004 and also for being an ardent supporter of the EuroMaidan Revolution that ended Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency on Feb. 22, 2014.
Now her plan to make renewables most popular energy sources in the world.
“I know how to do it with my voice and I have a program for this,” said Ruslana.
Ukraine is gradually entering the global trend of moving to renewables as well. The country highly in demand to become energy independent, especially since Russia launched its war in the Donbas four years ago.
While the share of energy Ukraine gets from renewable sources was modest 1.2 percent in 2017, or 2.086 million kilowatts, according to Ukrainian Association of Renewable Energy, the market is growing rapidly due to the high green tariff.
Since 2014, $550 million has been already invested in Ukrainian renewables, according to Ukraine’s National Investment Council.
“Renewable energy is democratic energy, and energy for peace,” Ruslana said.
But not only big companies can produce energy from sun, wind or water. Small households have tools to get electricity by themselves as well.
Personal example
Lyzhychko shows how to consume energy reasonably in practice with her own example.
Her house is equipped with wind power plants, solar panels and even solar collectors, according to the state agency on energy efficiency and energy saving of Ukraine.
“For everyone, the transition to clean energy should also mean the abandonment of artificial things, like drugs,” wrote Ruslana on Sep. 28 in her personal blog at Ukrainska Pravda.
“For all mankind and the entire planet, this means the abandonment of nuclear energy, the use of coal, oil and gas – a complete rejection of this dark energy and the system built on it,” she said.
However, it’s not so easy to get private household equipped with renewables in terms of the amount of money needed in Ukraine.
The issue of equipment houses with renewables depends directly on people’s well-being.
For the average Ukrainian household to install solar panels and solar collectors can vary from 10,000 to 50,000 euros, according to Yuriy Podolyak, the commercial director of IK NET, an energy project management company in Ukraine.
