Ecobreves – MEXICO: Eye On Climate Change and Renewable Energy

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MEXICO CITY, Aug 11 2008 (IPS) - A scientific report, entrusted to the Veracruzana University of Mexico, will measure the impact of climate change on renewable energy. “There are only suspicions that climate change will affect the flows of solar radiation, but there are no precise measurements,” Agustín Muhlia, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's geophysics institute, told Tierramérica.

The study, which will be ready in 2009, will allow better planning of the development of renewable energy sources, determining the most appropriate areas for their application and those that will undergo climate-related alterations.

Approximately eight percent of Mexico's electricity comes from alternative sources, such as geothermal, wind and hydroelectric. Mexico has an existing renewable energy capacity of some 12,000 megawatts, of which 88 percent is hydraulic.

The government has also initiated a study of the economic impacts of climate change in Mexico.