The key to continuing to advance in sustainability is 'Innovation and Collaboration'

 

The head of the Water Department of the Canary Islands Technological Institute (ITC), Baltasar Peñate, opened the second session of the 16th edition of the International Seminar on Sustainable Regions that, organized by the Commonwealth of the Southeast, was held these days in Ingenio. In his presentation, the expert spoke about the situation of the desalination of water produced with renewable energies, and raised what challenges the Canary Islands must face so that "this conversion of sea water can be carried out exclusively with renewable energies." Currently, almost all clean energies have been tested for water distillation, “technological solutions that use photovoltaic, solar-thermal, wind and hybrid processes to try to reduce CO2 emissions as much as possible and the use of fossil fuels, fundamental elements in climate change mitigation strategies,” he stated. 

  

Peñate reviewed the history of water desalination in the Islands, highlighting that along this path “the need for drinking water has been covered and technology has been introduced into the processes, making it increasingly sustainable.” He highlighted that the Canary Islands are a leading region in terms of desalination, with six decades of history since the first desalination plant in Europe came into operation. 

  

The coordinator of offshore wind energy at Naturgy, Alex Mira, was in charge of explaining in his presentation the FOWCA project, acronym for Floating Offshore Wind Canarias, an initiative of the Spanish company and Equinor for the installation of a 216 megawatt park, formed by 12 turbines of 18 megawatts each in the maritime space of eastern Gran Canaria. For the energy company that he represents, it is necessary that there be a “legal and legislative framework for offshore wind to develop.” 

  

The proposed project is based on semi-submersible floating platform technology that has the advantage of installing the structures furthest from the coast, minimizing the visual impact and maintaining other uses of the maritime space. The Naturgy spokesperson highlighted the excellent wind conditions of the Canary Islands and emphasized its potential as a job generator, "for which adequate training of local professionals who can fill the required positions is needed." 

  

Nemesio Pérez, scientific director of the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER), spoke about the use of heat from the Earth's interior in his presentation titled Volcanoes: risks and opportunities. Geothermal energy was the central axis of his presentation, explaining to attendees the type of actions in which its use is possible, he noted that “we have to live with the volcanoes in our territory, which are the ones that have shaped our territorial reality. , knowing that we must carry out all those actions aimed at mitigating the volcanic risk, while at the same time we must take advantage of all the opportunities that the volcanic phenomenon offers us." 

  

The La Palma volcano was present at the beginning of its presentation, emphasizing that it has been the most important eruption in Europe in the last 75 years. When highlighting the damage caused by this volcano, he stated that "it has also been an opportunity to investigate", although he noted that "greater political will is necessary for the development of geothermal energy in the Canary Islands, as other oceanic islands of origin are doing. volcanic". Its advance would mean the possibility of contributing to the energy mix of the Canary Islands, practically based on renewable energies, "the importance of geothermal energy is not so much the large production that there may be, but rather that it would help cover the base load of the island energy systems" he added. Perez. 

  

The experience of Giulio Vinaccia, UNIDO design consultant, with a community in Madagascar began this expert's presentation on the use of design as a development tool from a perspective of “social ecology”, a term used to refer to the care of the environment with the focus on people. For the United Nations program advisor, “introducing a lateral view to address problems allows for better responses to the needs of communities. "We have to be reactive in the face of problems and not stay with the options that are given as the first option, be more imaginative." 

 

Finally, in this panel of experts, Elena López Gunn, CEO and founder of Icatalist, addressed Adaptation to climate change and sustainability in her presentation, during which she detailed the main axes of the European Union's Adaptation Mission, and how This initiative also lands in the Canary Islands. She explained that this project was born with the vocation of “facing climate change through joint efforts to confront the problems using lateral and divergent thinking.” 

  

From her perspective as lead author of Working Group II of the IPCC Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, she explained the work behind these reports that are carried out periodically, the last of which came out last week. In an analysis of what science says right now about climate change, she shows that “current trends are incompatible with a sustainable and equitable world.” López Gunn, who advocates for “climate activism, especially among young people,” also made reference to the “eco-anxiety produced by uncertainty about the future of the Planet, which must be listened to to be in accordance with it.” 

  

As a closing to this forum that was closed by the president of the Southeast Commonwealth and mayor of Ingenio, Ana Hernández, a round table was organized that was moderated by the industrial engineer and former professor at the ULPGC, Roque Calero. In this space for dialogue and reflection, as one of the promoters of the International Seminar on Sustainable Regions, he reviewed some of the numbers of this meeting that has brought together 202 speakers from 22 different countries throughout its 16 years of experience. A project born in the Southeast of Gran Canaria and, according to Calero, “what has been done so far has been very important for many people and is an example that the Canary Islands can be a benchmark in terms of sustainability.”