Government contracting and the Buy Green revolution

Government contracting and the "Buy Green" revolution

Government Contracting and Green Buying

The aim of this paper is to define the term 'Green buying' and link it to the Governmental procurement. Among other important issues, the report describes the reasons why the Central authority must involve in the environmental elements of the national society. In the end, the author shall present its conclusions.

The increasing level of pollution and diminishing resources of the natural environment, among which we would like to point out petroleum, gas, coal as the most important ones, drinkable water, had brought the attention of the public on Ecologic issues more than ever.

Specialists in the field highlight the fact that the natural resources for the above mentioned elements would last for a limited number of years - let us say 30-50 years. But what happens after that? It is well-known that energetic factors are a very delicate issue- petroleum and natural gas are topics that deploy wars and terror against entire countries. Corporations have made the first step in handling the case by focusing on the finding of new methods to create energy and replace the traditional energetic means. The 'Green power' includes factors like wind, bio-energy, geothermal, solar and hydroelectric energy. However, corporations are not alone in this struggle against the limited resources of Earth; Governments around the world try under different forms to create incentives or even enforce directives for enabling the focus on green products for the end consumer and third companies involved. In the next paragraphs, we shall tackle the Green power topics, briefly describing each element of the category and describe how Governments can induce the ecologic point-of-view in the national economies of states around the globe.

Definition of Green Power

Green power is the solution to a cleaner, sustainable energy system that would replace the traditional framework, dedicated to a large extent to non-renewable resources having a mineral origin. The fundament of Green Power is the renewable energy -- the power created by sun, wind, plants, and moving water. The characteristics of the new energetic factors relate to sustainability of the natural environment, durable development of the economy, that is not using Earth's limited resources any more, but finds other ways of creating wealth and benefits for the involved individuals. Next we shall present the main elements of the Green power:

Wind energy is obtained by the conversion of moving air into electricity. Wind power does not produce carbon dioxide emissions, does not generate solid waste that pollutes the natural environment or uses water that is more and more considered as a precious and limited asset of the Planet.

Bio-energy refers to the energy produced by trees and plants, including crops cultivated with the sole energetic purpose and for using other organic wastes (such as wood residues from paper mills and methane from landfills). Using bio-energy to generate electricity reduces global warming emissions, and is based again on renewable resources as new plants are cultivated to replace the harvested ones.

Geothermal energy uses heat from inside the earth to make clean power. It is considered to be a constant source of heat and energy, as compared to wind energy, that can be exercised and captured only in special locations. Due to its structure, the Earth has the capacity to generate heat in significan quantities.

Solar power captures the heat and light of the sun to generate electricity. The overall climatic changes can be wisely used by Corporations and Governments to produce useful electricity, without recurring to solid wastes or other non-renewable resources.

Hydroelectric power captures the energy in falling water. It is considered to a have a relatively small impact on the natural environment, and electricity can be obtained by using natural or artificial water falls.

The adoption of Green power into the economy is hindered by several factors like: the fact that the market for these assets is not properly functioning, the highly expensive development of technological foundations that requires important initial costs and lastly the limited support for the Government. It is necessary to point out that overall the level of subsidies for traditional energetic means is greater than that for Green power, especially if we consider the externalities to ordinary citizens - pollution and increased energy prices.

Governmental Role

The Government should play an active role in promoting the new Green power into the Energy field. Leaving aside the economic interests and lobbyists of petroleum corporations, the Government must work in the best interest of the citizens. For the above mentioned reasons, the renewable sources are a solution for reducing pollution at a national and international level and handling the issue of mineral resources scarcity in a positive manner.