By Eduardo Aguiñaba, researcher at Business School of Tecnológico de Monterrey.
“He's gone again. Come on, disconnect everything so things don't burn when I get back.” These words, typical among those who see their electricity supply interrupted in meteorological events such as hurricanes or tropical storms, have unfortunately been recently uttered for apparently very different reasons, such as the saturation of the National Electrical System. In other words: due to the inability of the country's electrical system to satisfy a historically high demand, of more than 51 MWh, of the required energy consumption.
Indeed, these blackouts bring with them various inconveniences to the population, and impact the productivity and pockets of households, due to both food that spoils due to lack of refrigeration, and electronic devices that do not withstand sudden changes. in the voltage and must be replaced.
But beyond launching a strong claim to the authorities responsible for this shortage, the real concern is that it seems that this situation will continue the same or worse if there is no real fundamental change. But what is the real cause of this increase in energy demand? The apparent response is the sudden increase in temperatures and therefore energy demand; The real reason behind it is largely climate change.
You may wonder how this happens, if really, according to NASA, since 1880 the increase in global temperature has been only 1.1 °C? Unfortunately, climate change brings with it increasingly extreme weather events. An example is the effect it has on phenomena such as El Niño, which is generated by above-average warming of the oceans, which causes changes in rainfall, droughts, floods and, of course, increases in temperatures. In other words, the effects of El Niño are worsened by global warming.
However, what is being done about it? Let us remember that Mexico committed that, by 2024, 35 percent of national electricity would be generated from clean sources. Although it is a very laudable goal, the reality is that we are increasingly further away from achieving it.
This is why we cannot delegate this responsibility only to the Government. We must act from the corporate trenches and together with consumers to awaken a more ecological awareness. It is necessary to understand the global effects that, as a human race, we are generating and, consequently, now suffering.
Therefore, it is important to rethink the way we operate our industrial systems. That is, from how the items we consume are produced, to the way in which we consume them. We need to start from perspectives inspired by nature, such as biomimicry, which materializes in better designed buildings with low energy requirements, and explore business models inspired by the circular economy, in which different industries share the excess energy generated to achieve savings. double-digit energy. These are just some initiatives that continue to gain relevance and that we must continue to incorporate.
It is time for deep reflection, since if we do nothing, each summer will be the coldest of our lives.
Originally published in Empresas Verdes.