ECPA | Media Center

01 May

Finding New Synergies between Water and Energy

Consider these two seemingly unrelated problems: Solar and wind energy are intermittent, and fresh water is often in short supply. An integrated system that combines existing technologies—and that runs entirely on renewable energy—could solve both those problems at the same time, an engineer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology maintains. And, he says, several sites in the Americas have the perfect topography for putting such a system to the test. The key is to have mountains next to the sea. All the technology needed for this combination water-and-power system already exists, says Alexander Slocum, the Walter M. May and A. Hazel May Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and lead author of a paper on the subject published in the journal Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments. The system he envisions brings together a pumped hydro system to store energy and produce backup power for wind and solar power systems and a reverse osmosis system to desalinate water. The first piece of that, the pumped hydro, stores water—and therefore energy—in a lined reservoir built at a high elevation next to the sea. “It’s a giant battery to go along with wind and solar,” Slocum explained in a phone interview. “We’re going... Read More

01 Mar

Post-hurricane infrastructure reconstruction in the Caribbean Islands: when business-as-usual is risky business

Two devastating blows were dealt to the Caribbean Islands in September 2017, in the form of Category 5 hurricanes that caused massive human and economic losses. An immediate challenge is to bring back the electric power, potable water, communications, and transportation networks. In light of increasingly intense weather patterns, predicted to become even more intense due to climate change, it is critical to rebuild infrastructure in the Caribbean to withstand future disasters. Just rebuilding infrastructure as a newer version of the same design that failed in the recent events, or simply making some components sturdier, will not be enough. To ride out future disasters, the reconstructed energy, water, and transportation systems will need to be resilient, autonomous, and secure. Rebuilding centralized energy and water systems will be time and capital intensive, but there are other ways to incorporate existing technologies and locally-available resources that will reduce the overall risk of system failure and save time and money, while providing individual communities with functioning infrastructure with expediency and improved efficiency. On resilience What does it mean for infrastructure to be resilient? The most critical element is to lower its chance of failure. Also, should failure occur, resilient infrastructure is planned and implemented in a... Read More

11 Sep

Jamaica in the Spotlight

VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile—After announcing that her country will host the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), Jamaican Ambassador Audrey Marks spoke in an interview about the importance of energy issues to the Caribbean region. “We are determined as a country and as a region to get to certain macroeconomic goals, and energy is one of the critical drivers of that goal,” said the diplomat, who represents her country both at the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United States. She led the Jamaican delegation to the recent ECPA ministerial meeting in Chile. In the last three years, partly because of lower oil prices, Jamaica has seen its electricity prices drop from $0.40 per kilowatt hour to $0.28, according to Marks. Of course, as the country knows from long experience, that trend can change, she added. “What we have to do is make use of this window,” she said. “We are moving in the right direction, now that we are focusing on energy diversification, and we want to keep this momentum going.” As it seeks to increase its energy security and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, Jamaica’s current goal is to generate 30 percent of its... Read More

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Finding New Synergies between Water and Energy

Post-hurricane infrastructure reconstruction in the Caribbean Islands: when business-as-usual is risky business

Jamaica in the Spotlight