Energy
Growth, development and climate change: Mitigation alternatives in Mexico
By Alberto Salazar
The entire region of Central America is highly vulnerable to Climate Change due to its varied geographical conditions, great biodiversity and poverty. Besides, the lack of promotion of clean energy technology in this region is likely to cause a dramatic jump in the total emissions for the decades to come. In countries like Cuba, Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic, the energy services are behind population growth and to date they represent a promising market to many potential providers. The case of Mexico is particularly important in the region, due to the size of its economy, its stage of development and the size of its population (109 million). Several mitigation studies have appeared recently, showing that the mitigation potential of the country is high. The German Federal Environment Agency presented a proposal in which Mexico could reduce 39% its GHG emissions from energy, transport and industry, with respect to the "business as usual" scenario, by 2020; the Energy Revolution scenario for Mexico (Greenpeace) states that, by 2050, it could lower its level of energy emissions to 60% less than the level of 2005.
Alberto Salazar collaborates with Unión de Cientìficos Comprometidos con la Sociedad (UCCS) in Energy and Climate Change and teaches at Universidad Anáhuac México Sur (UAS).
Solar cells
Photo: Rainer Sturm, pixelio.de
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Sustainable Energy: Shifting the Paradigm - by Alice Slater
Today's dominant world energy systems, relying on fossil, nuclear and biofuels, endanger the very existence of humanity. The world is faced with a crisis that requires a total transformation in the way we create energy, shifting to sustainable energy that flows freely from the sun, the wind, the tides, and the center of the earth. Accelerating weather catastrophes - tsunamis, hurricanes, drought, the melting of the polar ice caps - underline the urgency to heed the scientific consensus that we are endangering our very survival on the planet with the continued use of carbon-based fuels …
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See also at the Energy Sustainability Weblog
For information on the Preparatory Conference for the Foundation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) check here
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The World Council for Renewable Energy www.wcre.org
