prospecting opportunities

El nuevo Ministerio de Energía tendrá que diseñar y coordinar los planes, políticas y normas para el buen funcionamiento y desarrollo del sector. Asimismo, reordena el sector público en lo referido al ámbito energético y agrupa las funciones propias de esta área, resolviendo la dispersión actual, traspasando funciones desde los Ministerios de Minería y Energía, y modificando además la dependencia de la Comisión Nacional Energía (CNE), la Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles y la Comisión Chilena de Energía Nuclear, las que pasan a relacionarse con la Presidencia por medio del Ministerio de Energía.

El ministro de Energía, Marcelo Tokman, señaló que con la creación de este ministerio se concentra en una sola autoridad la responsabilidad política y las distintas atribuciones que actualmente están dispersas en múltiples organismos. “La nueva institucionalidad evitará la duplicación de funciones, la dilución de responsabilidades, y la mirada excesivamente concentrada en la oferta eléctrica, que ha primado en los últimos 30 años”, dijo.

Junto con la instauración del nuevo ministerio, se creó la subsecretaría de Energía, en cuyo cargo la Presidenta designó a la abogada Mariana Soto Espinosa. “Ahora no sólo contamos con un nuevo ministerio y una subsecretaría, sino que también se crea la Agencia de Eficiencia Energética. Lo que se suma al Centro de Energías Renovables, inaugurado hace unos meses junto a Corfo”, indicó Tokman.

El secretario de Estado sostuvo que las próximas autoridades contarán con un piso en materia institucional, “que en el papel a lo mejor no se ve como fundamental, pero puedo asegurarles que será más fácil avanzar en los temas de futuro con mucha mayor solidez”.

La nueva cartera tendrá como áreas funcionales propias de su labor las referidas a la promoción de las energías renovables no convencionales y la eficiencia energética, el desarrollo sustentable y la protección del medio ambiente, las políticas de energización social y rural, entre otras.  Además, contará con Secretarias Regionales Ministeriales, las que deberán considerar en su establecimiento las condiciones y potencialidades de desarrollo energético de las regiones.

La página web del nuevo ministerio se encuentra disponible en www.minenergia.cl

Carta Abierta al futuro Presidente de Chile Sebastián Pineira

One of the world-class places for solar and eolic power projects is the Mojave Desert in California. New York Times published the article “Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power” , where upstreaming controversity between “landscape, monumental protectionism”  and “clean energy projects for future” are highlightened.

Even there is no answer, who’s wrong and who’s right, this is a beginning tendency for possible limitations in desertic regions worlwide, even in Chilean  Atacama Desert, where actually solarproject developers are looking for best climate and cost competive places for plant constructions. With sun radiation around 7.000 KWH/m2/day, on average!

Therefore, adequate existence of  legal, environmental and social rights and regulations by states with desertic energy  potentials like Chile will determine how fast new and clean technologies come into practise.

El domingo 22 de Noviembre se inauguró oficialmente el XII Congreso Geológico Chileno en La Casa de Piedra, que durará hasta el 26 de Noviembre. Organizado por el Departamento de Geología de la Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas de la Universidad de Chile. Participan esta vez mas que 1.200 geólogos, principalmente estudiantes y profesionales jovenes, para escuchar y ver las exponencias de  oradores y panelistas nacionales e internacionales, separados en 13 temáticas.

Grán interés generó este primer día el panel de Geopatrimonio, coordinado por los geólogos Manuel Schilling y Francisco Hervé. Urge la necesidad de proteger, conservar y fomentar el valor geológico-paisajistico nacional en forma de geositios y geoparques.   Dentro de este segmento de expositores Karsten Berg de Exploraberg E.I.R.L. presentó el Descubrimiento de zafiros en Chile, en conjunto con Enrique Tidy, petrógrafo especialista nacional. Se notaba un interés especial en este hallazgo,  manifestada por gran curiosidad y espíritu emprendedor en estos jóvenes. Se admite ideas y comentarios sobre el quehacer con estos zafiros, por primera vez encontrado en territorio chileno.

Con cierta preocupación Exploraberg esta viendo como las diferentes tecnologías de energía renovable no-convencional (ERNC) entran en Chile en una severa competencia para posicionarse en el mercado, posiblemente ante cualquier lógica razonable. Solo para no perder este  estallido boom energético (ecológico?), como “ahora o nunca”.

Nosotros, siendo ser simpatizantes del llamado Energy-Mix, de competencia sana, llamamos aquí a un minuto de reflexión.

Simplemente mezclar las diferentes fuentes energéticas sin previa planificación regional con una sólida base de mapas energéticas Convencional/ERNC relativo a su recurso natural disponible,  puede terminar en un incoherente patchwork, con obras llave en mano de poco sentido.

Como son tecnologías mas costósas en el primer año de inversión, que las convencionales, estos ERNC deberían situarse en los lugares priveligiados  por naturaleza, bajo reglas claras. Para rendir tributo económico sin problemas por largos tiempos.

Deberían complementar las energías convencionales, de forma coherente, al menos en la primera fase. Y situarse en los lugares, donde no existía ninguna fuente energética anteriormente. Y por donde la transmisión energética tradicional sale mas caro. Lema: “Acortar caminos en favor de una sana independencia y autonomía energética”.

Como País, Chile no puede darse el lujo a tener un futuro parque energético poco eficiente, desordenado y descoordinado. Es tiempo en abrir espacios para debates técnicos-comunitarios a nivel nacional, en favor de una coherencia energética a largo plazo. Los ERNC deben ser respaldados por su propia gente, y bién informada.

Puerto Montt, photograph by Exploraberg

After proven prime country conditions in Chile for nearly all known renewable energy technologies, like solar, on-land hydraulic, eolic, geothermal and bioenergy, recent prefeasibility study about Tidal Energy Power reveals surprising top-conditions in Southern Chile.

Are these innovative technologies real and available yet for a small but upstreaming South American country like Chile ?

Bavarian photovoltaic solar-power-plant, picture by Exploraberg

Former chilean President Ricardo Lagos mentioned this project proposal yesterday night, like personnel desire, meanwhile his interview in Tolerancia Cero by ChileVision TV-talk-show.

May be reality,  or just a dream?

illustration only

Brazil recently announced plans to buy, operate and maintain up to five hydrogen-cell-fueled buses, as well as the station to produce hydrogen to supply the buses.

The program is the starting point for the development of a cleaner solution for urban public transportation in Brazil. It was coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) in partnership with the Urban Transportation Metropolitan Enterprise in Sao Paulo (EMTU/SP), and was financed with resources from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Studies and Projects Funding Body (FINEP), with support of the United Nations Program for Development (UNPD).

For MME Minister Edison Lobão, the project is a further step for the government to consolidate the country’s expertise in the use of renewable sources. “This project results from a huge effort of the Ministry of Mines and Energy with its partners. With the hydrogen-fueled bus we are further developing the Brazilian economy,” he said.

The first vehicle will serve the ABD Metropolitan Corridor (Sao Mateus / Jabaquara), located in the Greater Sao Paulo area.

MME’s Secretary for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Renewable Fuels, Jose Lima, said this is a pioneering project in Latin America aimed at disseminating the technology. “The Brazilian success with ethanol and biodiesel allows us to use hydrogen from renewable energy sources. From now on, our challenge will be to structure the hydrogen economy in Brazil,” he said.

The bus pioneers a hybrid system that combines hydrogen cells with batteries. The strategy allows for increased fuel saving and rational energy use.

The batteries can be used to store the energy generated by the cell during the periods when the vehicle is idle (for passenger boarding or at traffic lights, for instance), in addition to regenerating braking energy. The hydrogen fuel cell system – which generates 68kW – is specific for automotive use, making it less expensive.

The Brazilian project was selected for financing by UNPD/GEF due to the fact that the country is an emerging economy, with buses performing an important role in urban transportation. Likewise, Brazil is the world’s largest market for buses, and the leading producer of this kind of vehicle, with 50,000 units per year.

The development of an urban collective transportation system with zero emission of pollutants will contribute to reducing the environmental impact in large urban areas, such as Sao Paulo, which has the world’s largest bus fleet. Motor vehicles are responsible for 90% of air pollutants, with most buses having diesel engines with high emissions of NO2 and particulates.

vía  SpaceMart Staff Writers by Nasa, Sao Paulo, Brazil (SPX) Jul 28, 2009

This artistic view of the Earth’s interior shows hydrocarbons forming in the upper mantle and transported through deep faults to shallower depths in the Earth’s crust. The inset shows a snapshot of the methane dissociation reaction studied in this work. Credit: Image courtesy A. Kolesnikov and V. Kutcherov

The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth’s crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter.

Now for the first time, scientists have found that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle -the layer of Earth under the crust and on top of the core. The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden, and is published in the July 26, advanced on-line issue of Nature Geoscience.

Methane (CH4) is the main constituent of natural gas, while ethane (C2H6) is used as a petrochemical feedstock. Both of these hydrocarbons, and others associated with fuel, are called saturated hydrocarbons because they have simple, single bonds and are saturated with hydrogen.

Using a diamond anvil cell and a laser heat source, the scientists first subjected methane to pressures exceeding 20 thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and temperatures ranging from 1,300 F degrees to over 2,240 F degrees . These conditions mimic those found 40 to 95 miles deep inside the Earth. The methane reacted and formed ethane, propane, butane, molecular hydrogen, and graphite.

The scientists then subjected ethane to the same conditions and it produced methane. The transformations suggest heavier hydrocarbons could exist deep down. The reversibility implies that the synthesis of saturated hydrocarbons is thermodynamically controlled and does not require organic matter.

The scientists ruled out the possibility that catalysts used as part of the experimental apparatus were at work, but they acknowledge that catalysts could be involved in the deep Earth with its mix of compounds.

“We were intrigued by previous experiments and theoretical predictions,” remarked Carnegie’s Alexander Goncharov a coauthor.

“Experiments reported some years ago subjected methane to high pressures and temperatures and found that heavier hydrocarbons formed from methane under very similar pressure and temperature conditions. However, the molecules could not be identified and a distribution was likely. We overcame this problem with our improved laser-heating technique where we could cook larger volumes more uniformly. And we found that methane can be produced from ethane.”

The hydrocarbon products did not change for many hours, but the tell-tale chemical signatures began to fade after a few days.

Professor Kutcherov, a coauthor, put the finding into context: “The notion that hydrocarbons generated in the mantle migrate into the Earth’s crust and contribute to oil-and-gas reservoirs was promoted in Russia and Ukraine many years ago. The synthesis and stability of the compounds studied here as well as heavier hydrocarbons over the full range of conditions within the Earth’s mantle now need to be explored. In addition, the extent to which this ‘reduced’ carbon survives migration into the crust needs to be established (e.g., without being oxidized to CO2). These and related questions demonstrate the need for a new experimental and theoretical program to study the fate of carbon in the deep Earth.”

vía Staff Writers, TerraDaily by Nasa
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 27, 2009