Energy and sustainability in Chile: Simulation modelling of low-carbon technologies and energy in buildings
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Simon, FrançoisEditorial
Universidad de Granada
Departamento
Universidad de Granada. Departamento de Ingeniería de la Construcción y Proyectos de IngenieríaMateria
Recursos energéticos renovables Desarrollo sostenible Energía solar Chile Edificios Ingeniería geotérmica Costes
Materia UDC
550.36 -032.3 (83) 330506
Date
2017Fecha lectura
2017-09-22Referencia bibliográfica
Simon, F. Energy and sustainability in Chile: Simulation modelling of low-carbon technologies and energy in buildings. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 2017. [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/48835]
Sponsorship
Tesis Univ. Granada.Abstract
Fossil fuels reserves are diminishing rapidly across the world, intensifying the stress on
existing reserves due to increased demand. Moreover, the production of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions driven by human activities, in particular the combustion of fossil fuels, presently
contributing to 81% of the world primary energy, inflict disastrous impacts on human health,
economics and environment of the planet. Increase in GHG concentrations is directly responsible
for the rise in the earth average temperature and its associated climate change implications.
The Chilean economy grew at a rate of 4% between 2003 and 2015 and is forecast to continue
to grow over the coming years. As for most developing countries, pressures from economic and
population growth have traditionally forced governments to look at cost-effective options, mainly
those exploiting fossil fuel sources, to cope with the increased demand for electricity from
households and industry. However, besides the serious concerns on whether the actual strategy is
environmentally sustainable, the lack of fossil fuel sources in Chile makes also the country
vulnerable to supply disruptions of foreign fossil fuel and energy price volatility, and thus raises
concerns over satisfying the country energy demand. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look at
sustainable options for energy production and energy saving in Chile, especially since the
Chilean government pledged to reduce the country GHG emissions by 30% below 2007 levels by
2030 at the latest Paris climate negotiations in December 2015. The present work is aimed to
demonstrate that sustainability in the field of energy can be achieved in a cost effective manner in
Chile, through clean energy generation from renewable sources and efficient use of energy in
buildings. The energy sector has a key role in the production of environmentally harmful substances. It
has thus become crucial for the sustainability of modern societies to switch over of energy
systems from conventional to renewables. Solar energy represents an attractive alternative to
conventional fossil energy, as it is freely available in abundant and inexhaustible quantity and can
make an important contribution towards a sustainable future. The study explores the economic
viability of large scale solar technologies for clean electricity generation, in terms of levelised
cost of electricity (LCOE) on the Atacama Solar Platform (PSDA) for a solar-solar hybrid energy
mix with the objective of evaluating new options for continuous solar electricity delivery.