The “Saudi Arabia of Alternative Energy”
While one would expect a President who had formerly served as Minister of Energy to be good for a state's oil industry, in the Mexican case, the happy surprise is that President Calderón is also aggressively pursuing alternate forms of energy, particularly wind power, leading Mexico to be dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of Alternative Energy." Earlier this month, the Federal Electricity Commission signed a contract to build two additional wind farms at a cost of $393.6 million. By the end of his term, President Calderón hopes to derive a quarter of Mexico's energy from alternative sources.
Much of the production occurs on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico in Oaxaca, near the Guatemalan border. With new windmills going up daily, the hope is that the region will generate 2,500 megawatts within three years. Such output would make Mexico a world leader in wind energy generation. Engineers from across the developed world have flocked to the region to learn more about the methods being employed.
Environmental sustainability and climate change have been key policy concerns for President Calderón. Despite all of the problems with drugs and corruption currently plaguing the Mexican state, the President has stated that "climate change is the most important challenge that human beings are facing in this century". As such, Mexico has played an important role internationally on climate change and green energy, leveraging its role as a bridge between developed and developing states, realizing some of its potential to be an important player diplomatically.
Yet for all the praise being lauded on Mexico, not all residents of Oaxaca are as enthused. Residents of the region have had to lease their land at extremely low values to make way for the windmills, dust generated by the turbines has been showered on crops, among other problems, leading Claudia Vera, a lawyer from the Tepeyac Human Rights Center, to conclude, "it's clean energy but dirty business".
Related:
- Experts: Environment
- Leer: (Excelsior) Calderón plantea inyectar 10 mil mdd a Fondo Verde
- Past Event: Towards a North American Carbon Market?
- Policy: Mexico Environmental Sustainability Development Policy Loan
- Read: (Growth and Change) The Impact of NAFTA on Mexico's Environmental Policy
(Photo credit: Flickr user Storm Crypt)
Cleaner energy will help both the state of economy and nature be saved from danger. There should be a green act wherein both the people and government will implement and cooperate of making ways how to save the world.The term "green" is on everyone's minds these days, whether it's getting more green as in making more money, or going green environmentally. The need for more green technology and practices is definitive, as the impact on our environment from our appetites for fossil fuel machinery and methods of generation electricity have taken a toll. An effort does have to be made to repair our planet, but many consider the loss of amenities to be too great to surmount. However, there are ways of getting by: solar water heating devices, electric high speed trains getting installed for public transport, and so forth. If you start going a little more green, it's like giving a cash advance to the Earth.
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