Energy & Industry
Energy
All energy sources impact the environment to some extent. Fossil fuels are the biggest challenge in practice. Fossil fuels are fuels that contain carbohydrates originating from plant and/or animal fossil remains. Currently they are the primary source of energy on Earth. Energy is usually released from fossil fuels through combustion, and the combustion process also releases harmful gases that adversely impact the environment.
Sulphur, nitrogen, and hydrogen are released when burning fossil fuels and then create compounds with oxygen called oxides. When these oxides reach the atmosphere, they react with water vapours chemically to create sulfuric, nitric or carbonic acid. Condensed atmospheric vapour with such acidic content, usually referred to as acid rain, enters the water circle and may cause harmful consequences to the biological quality of forests, soil, lakes and waterways.
Industry
Most industries have an adverse effect on the environment. These adverse effects are manifested in various ways – through gas emissions into the atmosphere, waste generation and resource depletion through the application of linear economy.
Although the good trend of the green transition was kickstarted in the EU, the Western Balkans is still lagging behind in transition.
