Late Again?






Surely you have heard this phrase: “Mexico arrived late to the industrial revolution.” And it is that while in Great Britain its beginnings are traced to the end of the eighteenth century, in Mexico it arrived until the end of the nineteenth century, almost 100 years later. While in Europe the textile industry was being mechanized, roads were increasing; maritime transport and large extensions of railway lines were being installed, in Mexico we rested strongly on textile manufacturing; there was no strong connectivity between production and consumption centers and we fell behind, in contrast, particularly with the United States, where the northern states began to industrialize rapidly.

But it does not end there. Mexico arrived late to other revolutions: the technological revolution, the digital revolution, the computer revolution and even the revolution of industry 4.0. Already on a roll, it could also be debated that we arrived late to the democratic revolution, the revolution of human rights; economic and cultural rights and, of course, environmental rights. Faced with this panorama, I ask myself: will we arrive late this time to the renewable revolution?

If we could divide the world into two categories, those who generate technological innovation and those who adopt innovations, would we doubt that Mexico is in the second? Although, in its fair dimension, Mexico, in general, is a country that adopts technology in its early phases.

Late for renewable energy

At this moment it seems that the perfect storm is hitting us and we have closed not only the door to the development of renewable energy in our country; also the window of early adoption of the technologies that would allow us to be competitive on the international scene.

Today the trend is clear: countries, companies, investment funds; research centers and society in general are betting on renewable energies and their growth in the energy matrix. It is a window of opportunity that, as always, will be taken advantage of by those who work to seize it.

In such a way that, while in other countries there is talk of solar roofs, hydrogen airplanes, electric trains; thermal energy batteries, green or blue hydrogen and homes 100% free of fuels, in Mexico we continue discussing regarding the dispatch of coal plants and purchase plans from small producers, intermittency and regulatory capture.

Undoubtedly, we are losing valuable time that could be dedicated to promoting scientific and technological development to integrate renewable energies into the networks and to destroy once and for all the myth of intermittency, to create auctions that have greater benefits for users and CFE at the cost of the risk assumed by private parties or to expand the transmission and distribution networks to the most vulnerable and marginalized areas of the country.

Otherwise, this period will go down in the history of Mexico as the time when our country arrived late to the energy revolution that redefined the economic and social system at the international level. Let us hope that this time it is not 100 years late, because we have everything to make energy work for you, for me and for all of us.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: November 18, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/otra-vez-tarde-revolucion-energia-renovable-energia-circular-opinion/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210509043040/https://businessinsider.mx/otra-vez-tarde-revolucion-energia-renovable-energia-circular-opinion/ [Archived]

“Are You Still There?”: Why That Screen Appears When No One Is Watching the Series






More than one has done it. We are working, preparing food and we have a Netflix series or some other streaming service in the background. Sometimes we return to watch the program, but other times we continue working, talking on the phone or we even fall asleep while the series runs and runs, functioning as ambient noise. This is not uncommon, it is done a lot and more in these times of working from home. To prevent this from continuing persistently, media companies such as Netflix and YouTube implemented the “Are you still there?” button.

Of course, many of us see this button as a nuisance after the fourth or fifth chapter of your favorite series, when you want to see what happened with the plot after the previous episode. But why is it important? And, above all, what does it have to do with energy, the topic we address in this space.

This button exists because if it were not so, we would surely leave the television on ad infinitum. When we addressed the topic of light pollution, we concluded that when the consumption of an additional unit of something does not generate a cost for you, or the cost is not perceived in the short term, the consumer will tend to increase their consumption. But the fact that it does not cost you does not mean that it does not cost YouTube or Netflix for the series to run while you fall asleep.

This is because the series of these platforms rest on servers that require energy to be available at all times. And, the greater the intensity of consumption, the more intensity of processing is generated, which requires more energy, on the one hand —because the server is in active operation all the time—; on the other hand, because they generate heat that requires more energy to keep the rooms where said servers are cold.

In recent years two phenomena have occurred; the first, the energy consumption of the cloud, that is, the servers of data companies such as Google, Microsoft, Netflix; Amazon and Dropbox, among others, has increased. Nevertheless, the second effect is that energy consumption has become more efficient per unit of work performed. This means that every day more energy is consumed to maintain digital services in the cloud, although much progress has been made in energy efficiency.

In that sense, the idea behind the “Are you still there?” button is not because Netflix cares about you, it is a measure of consumption efficiency and, at the end of the day, of energy efficiency. This is because if all of us left series running all the time, surely the company’s energy consumption would increase.

But not only that, greenhouse gas emissions would also increase, both those that you cause through the consumption of your series at home, and those of the company for keeping its servers operating in an inefficient way while no one is watching TV. We will go deeper into that next week.

However, not everything is bad, this could also be good for you. Because to the extent that you are more conscious of your energy consumption at home, you will avoid surprises in your electricity bill every two months, with which you save electricity and contribute to mitigating climate change.

So remember, if you have the habit of waiting until the server asks you “Are you still there?” and you are really not paying attention to the series that runs incessantly, perhaps it is time to rethink your energy consumption for the good of the planet and of your pocket.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: November 11, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/sigues-ahi-boton-ver-series-netflix-streaming-opinion-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20211204081743/https://businessinsider.mx/sigues-ahi-boton-ver-series-netflix-streaming-opinion-energia-circular/ [Archived]

Gray, Blue and Green Hydrogen






You read here first, a few months ago, that the hydrogen fever would begin in the world. From then to date we have heard notes such as Airbus’s bet to develop a zero-carbon-emissions airplane powered by hydrogen; using natural gas transportation and distribution pipelines to distribute hydrogen to industries, businesses and homes in the United Kingdom and the development of cargo transportation schemes that use hydrogen as a primary source of energy. Even the promotion of a National Hydrogen Association.

Surely hydrogen will continue giving something to talk about in the future and surely this column will continue following up on it. On this occasion, given the interest it has awakened, I want to touch on the three hydrogen production processes. To make the distinction simpler we can talk about gray hydrogen, blue hydrogen and green hydrogen.

Gray Hydrogen

Gray hydrogen is that which is obtained from a process known as steam reforming using natural gas. Through a chemical reaction of methane with water, hydrogen and carbon monoxide are obtained.

Although it uses natural gas, given the greenhouse gas emissions, it is not considered in itself a clean technology. This is the dominant technology for hydrogen production in the world.

It is worth highlighting that when this process is used with coal it is considered brown hydrogen, but we will not analyze this for the moment.

Blue Hydrogen

For its part, blue hydrogen uses the same steam reforming process; however, it sequesters 90% of greenhouse gas emissions and stores them underground.

Since the production process is considered low in greenhouse gas emissions, it has been called low-carbon-emissions hydrogen. However, this process is costly, which has limited its adoption compared with gray or brown hydrogen.

Green Hydrogen

Lastly, green hydrogen is that which is obtained through the electrolysis process; it consists of using electricity to separate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

Although this can be done with any source of electricity —from the grid, combined cycle or nuclear—, green hydrogen is considered to be that process that uses renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic solar and wind as the exclusive energy source for the electrolysis process.

Technological developments at the moment do not discriminate among the ways of producing gray, blue or green hydrogen, and concentrate on its usefulness to replace fossil sources of energy in industrial, commercial and residential processes; however, it is expected that in the future green hydrogen will be developed with greater intensity, particularly in places with intensive processes of renewable energy generation such as the coasts of the United Kingdom.

Implementing hydrogen in Mexico is a process that will require much evaluation and investments. Although we are closer to the development of gray hydrogen due to the abundant natural gas from the United States, the country has great potential to develop green hydrogen; skipping the phase of blue hydrogen and preparing for a future where it does not depend on energy inputs from abroad. That would be a decisive step for the country to consolidate its energy security.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: November 4, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/hidrogeno-gris-azul-verde-opinion-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240413040223/https://businessinsider.mx/hidrogeno-gris-azul-verde-opinion-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [Archived]