Clean energy, salvation

Putting into operation the new sources of energy that have been found on earth and are renewable resources is a priority urgency for all countries of the world. For this, three elements are indispensable: economic investment, infrastructure and will.

By: María Cecilia Hernández
Recently, U.S. President Barack Obama raised the possibility of ending the $4 billion tax incentive given to oil and gas producing industries to invest that amount in renewable energy proposals.

80% of the energy consumed worldwide is produced from fossil fuels. Among them coal, considered the main producer of the gases that generate the greenhouse effect through which the planet crosses and that does so much harm to it.

Some experts believe that if the consumption of this type of energy continues to rise, in about forty years the oil reserves will be depleted.

Therefore, various meetings of the governmental order are held every year, with the aim of finding new sources of energy capable of replacing the current ones without depleting natural resources or emitting polluting substances that harm the environment, also called clean energies or green energies.
Human Comfort Vs. Ecological Abuse

Among the equipment that shows a more representative expenditure of energy both in the residential, business and industrial contexts, are air conditioning and heating systems.

According to Daniel López, business specialist at Schneider Electric "it is essential to stop global warming and the increase of two degrees Celsius in global temperature, we must reduce the demand for oil by 2020 and lower that economic expense made by companies and homes that is between 25% and 35% dedicated exclusively to pay for heating and air conditioning".

This is a problem that affects not only the economy of people, but also consumes alarming electricity and finally, pollutes the environment. According to the exhibition "Energy. For a sustainable future" that was carried out in Spain, "In a single year human beings consume as much fossil fuel as nature is capable of producing in a million years."

To have an example of this, the month of March of this year (2011) Argentina registered one of the highest peaks in demand for electricity to reach 20,913 megawatts, because of the heat waves that hit the South American country, on average one 32 degrees Celsius, as announced to the media by the Ministry of Federal Planning of that nation.

In situations like this, there are many voices and initiatives that raise their hands to provide a prompt solution and replace the energy sources that are generated from non-renewable resources, with other alternatives that allow reducing this expense, recovering, at the same time, the deterioration in the ozone layer and reversing the global warming that in recent months has been generating so many natural disasters in Latin American countries and throughout the world.

New possibilities: green energy

The Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is currently working on a proposal called Initiative for the transformation and strengthening of the solar thermal panels market, with which they seek to promote and disseminate the use of these equipment in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua and Peru.

Although the energy generated through solar panels is an inexhaustible, renewable, free source, does not pollute and does not need to be transported, it is not the only alternative that is developed and with good results in the region, although it is the one that is implemented with greater acceptance, especially for the operation of air conditioning and heating systems. However, its use has mostly focused on water heating.
Among other sources of energy production, in addition to that generated through the sun, there are hydroelectric, biomass, wind, geothermal and frozen methane.

The expert added, in a pedagogical way, that wind energy is produced by the power generated by windmills; geothermal is the one that takes advantage of the heat that is in the center of the earth; and frozen methane is a crystalline accumulation formed by natural gas and water, which when in conditions of high pressures and low temperatures form solid elements similar to ice.

During the last International Exhibition of Air Conditioning, Heating, Ventilation and Refrigeration, Air Conditioning 2011; a new alternative called aerothermal energy was presented, which consists of using the energy and calories contained in the air to generate heat or cold.

"All these alternatives are found naturally on the earth, they are renewable resources, that is, inexhaustible, free and that because they are part of the same land do not harm or pollute it, the important thing is to have the scientific and economic capacity to convert these elements into a complete system, of quality and effectiveness of energy production, for any purpose," Jimenez said.

Conversion can take decades

According to Rolando Paucar Jáuregui, president of the Research Institute for Energy and Development (Iedes) of Peru, "we hope that in the future we will have an energy matrix different from the current one. We believe that by 2040 we can expect more than 60% of the energy we consume to be generated by water, solar, geothermal and wind sources, which are renewable and proprietary sources."

In Chile, for its part, the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) has approved 27 projects of new energy sources between hydroelectric, thermoelectric and wind, with an investment of US $ 18,000 million, says Bolívar Ruiz, director of the institution.

These are all initiatives that demonstrate an enormous concern to find new sources of energy production to replace the current ones. However, experts say that there is a long way to go to reach this ideal, because although resources are naturally found on the planet, political will, economic investment and scientific development are needed to massively implement the systems that convert the air, the temperature of the earth and everything that works for that purpose into energy.