Light Pollution










Let us position ourselves for a few minutes in the future, at a point in time where all the electric energy that is generated comes from renewable sources and where robust storage systems accompany the energy transmission and distribution networks. In that scenario, fossil sources are only used marginally in very specific cases, but the industry pales in comparison with the first decades of the twenty-first century.

The energy of this future has two characteristics: it is cheap and abundant and each additional unit does not increase the cost and, by practically not generating emissions, campaigns on energy saving have almost disappeared. It would seem that the only challenge ahead is the process of final disposal of first-generation storage technologies and solar panels that increase every year.

In this ideal world: can there exist a negative effect of an oversupply of clean and cheap energy? In this space I have proposed that even renewable energies could have a harmful effect on the environment if their use is not properly managed. One sample of this is light pollution, a problem increasingly palpable in modern societies.

The increase of light as a visual medium to transmit information has been possible because of two things: the low relative costs of electricity and the increase in energy efficiency in lighting technology.

In recent years, perhaps the greatest advance in energy efficiency has been in lighting. This has represented great savings for industries and businesses and has allowed more illuminated homes with less energy consumed; and it is that today an LED produces with 12 Watts light equivalent to a bulb of old that consumed 100 Watts and wasted an important part of energy in heat. This has generated savings between 80% and 90% in terms of electric consumption for lighting.

In such a way that this has allowed LED screens to be used for advertising and appear everywhere, which can have different effects on people from damage to sight to provoking epilepsies; or else they are barriers to free driving, since a strong light can provoke a decrease in the visibility of the environment.

Given this trend, it is common today to see roads, rivers, buildings, antennas and streets adorned with LED lighting, a trend that is estimated to grow in the coming years. Consequently, in our futuristic scenario, societies are destined to become permanent Broadways or Times Squares —in New York— using lighting more and more for ornamental and advertising purposes, thanks mainly to the fact that energy costs would approach zero.

Without a doubt, the question could arise: Is this something really bad? Perhaps not, if light pollution is regulated adequately to mitigate the risk as much as possible.

However, I imagine that light pollution constitutes only the tip of the iceberg of a series of problems associated with a future of cheap renewable energies without emissions. If you have any idea about it, do not hesitate to share it with me to address it more thoroughly in this space.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: September 23, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/contaminacion-luminica-energia-circular-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220818205334/https://businessinsider.mx/contaminacion-luminica-energia-circular-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [Archived]

Circular Energy








We arrive at the homonymous column of this space which, since its beginning, has proposed the idea of returning to the future in matters of energy; that is, concentrating public, private and social efforts on analyzing the challenges of the energy sector of the future and potential solutions. We have talked about energy revolutions and what the future may bring us ahead, as well as climate changes and the garbage, and the waste associated with the energy sector.

Since the seventies, the need to implement a sustainable development model has been raised, one that takes into account the use of resources and their replacement rates, in such a way that, in the future, ecosystems can provide the natural resources necessary to give a growing population the means for its continued development.

In 2015, as part of a process to expand the Millennium Goals, the countries that make up the United Nations Organization developed a series of goals related to this topic; it represents the most ambitious expression that the international community has presented, called the Sustainable Development Goals, which is constituted as part of the agenda of the international community of 2030.

In this sense, one current that proposes an alternative solution for sustainable development is that of “circular economy.” It proposes that the international economic system can reduce waste and the intensive use of resources through the use, reuse, adaptation, repair, recycling and responsible final disposal of goods and products that form part of the supply structure that sustains the world economic base.

Given that world energy development is associated with effects on the environment and, in our times —particularly with climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere— it is key to understand how a concept such as “circular energy” can be articulated, incorporating some basic elements of the current into the energy sector.

In this way, even though the future of the energy sector is based on the development of renewable sources —such as solar and wind supported by traditional storage and electric cars, hydrogen for generation, storage or mobility, among other options— this technology needs resources and generates waste that requires special treatment.

Considering this, the challenge to overcome is how to reuse, adapt, repair, recycle or definitively and safely dispose of solar panels, traditional batteries and other clean technologies in such a way that they do not become —just as happened with cellphones and computers— digital garbage.

This is of vital importance, because one of the points established by the 2030 agenda is to guarantee universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services. This means that international efforts are aimed at ensuring that the inhabitants of the planet have energy; but also, that this comes from renewable sources and that they are affordable for everyone. This implies, consequently, that it is fundamental to establish mechanisms that lead to a better understanding of what is required to integrate the circular economy model into the energy sector.

This is a debate, which is still in its initial stage, and will be fundamental for the continuous development of the world and to create a green and sustainable energy sector. Otherwise, even with renewable energy sources, we could generate important impacts on the environment.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: September 9, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/energia-circular-opinion-paul-sanchez-energia-futuro/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240722041425/https://businessinsider.mx/energia-circular-opinion-paul-sanchez-energia-futuro/ [Archived]

Climate Changes






“The only constant is change”

-Heraclitus

Allow me to share a hypothesis with you: the history of humanity is the history of the search for and mastery of energy, and energy development always has an impact that changes the environment permanently and effects on the climate, that is, that produce climate changes, yes, like that in plural.

A few months ago I briefly shared with you about the first energy revolution in history: the Neolithic revolution where agriculture was disseminated, which allowed the settlement of the earliest cultures. As you can imagine, the increase in the quality and quantity of food allowed the increase of the population and the surplus of production even allowed animals to be domesticated, which in turn increased and diversified the available food, or seen in another way, available energy.

The energy-economic system of the world, until before the industrial revolution, was based on this form of energy, the energy of muscle and food to keep this force biologically functioning. Said in another way, this system was based on the capacity of human beings and beasts to perform work.

As the increase in population increased the demand for food, it was also required that the available land increase to also sustain the increase of the agricultural activities that would produce said food. Productive lands for agricultural activity did not appear naturally, but rather required the intervention of man.

To increase the amount of available land, historians propose that the first civilizations had to cut down and burn forests, jungles and even swamps in massive quantities to incorporate new lands into the productive process, reducing and, in some cases destroying, the biodiversity of the place.

Agricultural development not only changed the economic and social structures persistent until that moment, in fact, from my point of view, it is the basis of the slave-feudal economic model that required a large amount of labor to maintain the increase of available energy, of which we will speak next week, but it also changed the environment.

Ecosystems were modified and a first climate change was produced, which, although it pales in magnitude compared with that of our days directly related to the burning of fossil fuels, has had an effect that has lasted to the detriment of the Earth’s capacity to absorb CO2.

In exchange, the availability of the energy available to societies increased exponentially at a rate that was only surpassed with the advent of the industrial revolution. Paradoxically, it was after industrial development and technological innovation that agricultural development has been more productive in relation to the use of land, but it brought with it an increase in greenhouse gas emissions related to the burning of fossil fuels.

If we start from the fact that the garbage, refuse, residues and waste of a period of time are directly related to the dominant energy technology, it is also possible to point out that changes to the environment and to the climate are directly related to the available sources of energy. Under this perspective, we could ask ourselves whether the adoption of renewable energy sources, storage, hydrogen and all those energy sources of the future will solve climate changes forever or whether they will generate their own changes in the climate. For today we do not have that answer.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: September 2, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/cambios-climaticos-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210306235244/https://businessinsider.mx/cambios-climaticos-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [Archived]