Uploaded on 2016-04-02 by Jose_David_Mejias

The dominant fossil fuels used in my country are: Oil products, Coal, and Gas. ![][1] **2. Where are the dominant fossil fuels mainly used for in your country?** a) Oil products are mainly use for transportation. ![][2] b) Coal is mainly use in power stations. ![][3] c) Gas consumption is divide between power stations and two other categories: Industry and Other non-specific uses. ![][4] ![ ][5] **3. It is your task to create a new policy in order to improve the environmental friendly and sustainable sources and consumption of energy of your country. How would you do that?** Puerto Rico is a United States territory located in the northeastern Caribbean, despite this our energy production and consumption follows a pattern drastically different than other states. Here some facts from the U.S Energy Information Administration: • Petroleum products fuel transportation, electricity generation, and industry in Puerto Rico, supplying four-fifths of the energy consumed in the commonwealth. • In 2015, 51% of Puerto Rico’s electricity came from petroleum, 31% from natural gas, 16% from coal, and 2% from renewable energy. • Two wind farms supplied nearly two-thirds of Puerto Rico's renewable generation in 2015; one of them, the 95-megawatt Santa Isabel facility, is the largest wind farm in the Caribbean. • From July 2012 to April 2015, distributed solar photovoltaic generating capacity in Puerto Rico increased by a factor of nine, bringing distributed solar capacity to 37 megawatts. Solar capacity at utility-scale installations totaled 52 megawatts. • Electricity fuel surcharges decreased as the price of oil dropped during 2015, but Puerto Rico's retail consumers still paid more for their power than consumers in any state except Hawaii. Puerto Rico needs urgently to change their energy resources from fossils fuels to other resources not just more eco-friendly, but also economically sustainable, in order to reduce the cost of energy (especially electricity) and improve the livability of the island. There are already some policies discussion in order to increase the use of renewable resources for energy production. But it seems that they are ignoring the fact that Puerto Rico is a small island with limited natural resources and therefore limited capacity for energy production. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) is focusing on wind, solar, and waste-to-energy projects. A 95-megawatt wind farm at Santa Isabel became both Puerto Rico's first operating wind generator and the largest wind facility in the Caribbean. Others wind power projects are in development, although studies to date show Puerto Rico has limited potential for large-scale wind projects. Because of this natural limitations Puerto Rico and the U.S. should be looking to create more policies to promote the use of solar energy and solar applications. Taking advantage of the tropical sun, Puerto Rico has become a U.S. leader in distributed solar applications, including solar hot water heaters and PV. The government has used weatherization assistance programs to install more than 11,000 solar hot water heaters. Those appliances, along with tax benefits to small-scale PV electricity projects, have reduced electric demand by more than 40 megawatts. And this is what the island needs to keep taking advantage of its tropical sun, the small-scale projects based on solar energy. Applying the same concept to the transportation category, Puerto Rico should reduce the use of automobiles by promoting collective and public transportation and also reducing the use of gasoline by promoting tax benefits projects for the acquisition of hybrid and electrical cars by their citizens. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14596400693646814.png [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/145964011670245.png [3]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14596401602208271.png [4]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14596402054216771.png [5]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14596402165388478.png