Assessment of Economic Advantages of Solar Energy for Manufacturing of Concrete Elements

One of the main guarantees of sustainable development of the civilization nowadays is settlement of the energy problem. People will encounter the crisis, connected with the reduction of the modern rate of production due to the depletion of fossil fuels without introduction of energy-saving technologies and renewable energy resources. The research work is devoted to reduction of the fossil fuels consumption in manufacturing of concrete elements and replacement them by solar energy, which can be used for heat treatment of concrete. Transformation to the renewable energy resources is associated with economic costs, which seem unjustified without taking into account its social and ecological aspects. The aim of the research work is to develop the methodic of economic assessment of the solar energy use for the manufacturing of concrete elements, taking into account its social and ecological advantages. The developed methodic includes equitation for determination: of the cost of yearly saving of fuel and energy resources during operation of solar energy equipment; the nonrecurring cost of production and installation of the solar energy equipment; ecologic and social components of the converted economic costs. The economic assessment shows that yearly replacement of fossil fuels by solar energy is 40-60% in dependence on the geographic area of manufacturing of concrete elements. The yearly economic benefit from replacement of fossil fuels is 60-85 tons of oil equivalent for the plants with manufacturing capacity of 20000 m(3), 150-200 tons of oil equivalent for the plants with manufacturing capacity of 50000 m(3).