The Role of Electricity in Sustainable Energy Supply

Ever since the dawn of history, humans have always needed energy, used it in a gradually growing number of fields and found new forms to meet their ever increasing demand. It is no exaggeration to claim that in the absence of energy, the very means of subsistence would cease to exist for today’s urbanised society. Nothing would function without electricity: neither the control systems run by IT tools, nor the core and auxiliary equipment of the fundamental supply and care systems. In the absence of electricity, water and natural gas supply would stop, ventilation systems would become inoperable, transport and traffic would shut down, and in the absence of illumination, everything would go dark, buildings would not be heated and cooled, both industrial and agricultural production would stop, the supply of drinking water and food would become unfeasible, communication and security systems would become inoperable, and law enforcement could not attend to their duties either. In other words, the absence of energy would lead to an economic and social disaster. After a description of climate change, the article gives a glimpse of the energy policy of the European Union, and outlines the main pillars of Hungary’s new energy strategy