Excuses

2008/01/09 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Energia berriztagarriak
• Energia

As they expand they have been giving excuses to renewable energy sources and we no longer see any error

These latest claims have been reinforced recently by a study published by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. This study evaluated the "pulchritude" of 26 biofuels from different plants, along with gasoline, diesel and natural gas, with the amount and environmental impact of greenhouse gases emitted in the reference axes, including the depletion of natural resources, damage to human health and impacts on ecosystems. Well, the main conclusion of the study is that most biofuels (21 of 26) reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but are not sufficiently ordered in terms of environmental impact. In fact, almost half have a greater impact than gasoline, among which are the most powerful on the market: Bioethanol produced in Brazil from sugar cane, bioethanol with corn raw material planted in the United States and biodiesel marketed from Malaysian palm trees.

In short, it seems that as soon as we start using it, we have disappointed with renewable energies, at least with biofuels and wind farms. Along with these two, the hydraulic power plants are one of the renewable energy sources with more excuses for the impact of large dams on the rivers, but these excuses are older, we already knew them. On the other hand, biofuels and wind farms had to provide a solution, at least part of the solution and not new problems.

comparing the fuels produced from plants with those produced from fossil fuels, the former are not always more "clean".

However, this issue should be addressed from another point of view. The question is: have wind farms and biofuels brought new problems or are they the same as before, but with another appearance? And it is that accepting all the excuses that both sources of energy have, and recognizing that any human activity has an intrinsic impact, in both cases the problems have originated with massive and large-scale use. And behind this we know what there is: an excessive and disproportionate energy consumption of the lifestyle and development model we have. Without changing that, we have a party. We can replace some energy sources with others and replace diesel with biodiesel, and even some day hydrogen. But if the evolution of demand and consumption remains so far, sooner or later we will catch the same disappointment with all. As each solution develops and unfolds, a new problem will emerge that we will add to the solution's list of excuses, a face that will show us an old problem.

Published in Berria