12:12 AM 11/26/2018 - The future of energy in Puerto Rico is renewable - World Economic Forum | Economic Opportunity for Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico Report | Information technology as Economic Opportunity for Puerto Rico

November 26, 2018

The future of energy in Puerto Rico is renewable World Economic Forum (blog)

Articles Review - November 2018

The future of energy in Puerto Rico is renewable World Economic Forum (blog)

Hurricane Maria tore apart the green mantle of foliage covering Puerto Rico, leaving destruction in its wake. It laid bare the island’s old and outdated infrastructure, upon which four million people depend. The infrastructure's state of disrepair, compounded by the logistical blunders of federal and local authorities, resulted in a humanitarian crisis, which was characterized by a failure to provide critical aid and restore power. This directly caused many of the thousands of deaths that have been attributed to Hurricane Maria.

The lack of power severely affected those in need of respirators and dialysis machines. Blocked roads prevented patients from seeking medical help and emergency vehicles from reaching their destination. Mental health and public health issues followed. Key among these was the lack of power and the length of the blackout, which was the longest and largest in US history. A number of factors contributed, including the fact that the power plants and grids were in severe need of repair and upgrading at the time of the disaster. The topography of Puerto Rico is also unforgiving; roads and bridges in mountainous regions were destroyed or covered by landslides and fallen trees, which slowed down repairs.

Pie charts illustrating energy consumption by sector and energy sources as of 2015

It was in the mountainous region of Adjuntas however, where a path to Puerto Rico’s future perhaps began. Casa Pueblo served as an example of what the island’s energy future should look like, especially after hurricanes. Casa Pueblo operates a radio station, a movie theatre and a community centre using solar power. In the days and months of darkness that followed Hurricane Maria, Casa Pueblo was an energy oasis for those in need.

Members of the surrounding community were able to visit Casa Pueblo and plug in their respirators, store their perishable food items in refrigerators and charge their cell phones. Seeing the dire necessity, Casa Pueblo also installed solar panels for some of the most vulnerable members of the community. Casa Pueblo’s energy insurrection, as they call it, includes the use of solar power in: a radio transmitter; a radio station; a cinema; 25 homes; 54 refrigerators; a classroom; a barber shop; minimarkets; two restaurants; two hardware stores and other small businesses; 10 homes with a solar backup energy system; 14,000 solar lamps; five permanent systems for dialysis machines ... and more.

While authorities in Puerto Rico were struggling to restore power and navigate through remote areas, destroyed roads and bureaucratic tape, Casa Pueblo was providing energy to its surrounding community. Communities in Puerto Rico spent more than a year in darkness, but Casa Pueblo turned its lights back on immediately after the hurricane. On a wider level, Casa Pueblo demonstrated that, even after a natural disaster, renewable and sustainable energy guarantees communication, innovation, economic activation, food security, education, health services and entertainment.

Hurricane Maria brought destruction to Puerto Rico, but also opportunity. Efforts to restore electricity on the island should include renewable and sustainable sources of energy, with a view to end the use of fossil fuels. As Casa Pueblo has shown, solar energy has minimal downtime after a natural disaster. It provides decentralized energy generation at the point of consumption, eliminating the hazards and difficulties associated with the failure of a main grid. Furthermore, in addition to the ethical failings of fossil fuels in light of climate change, it makes no economic or financial sense to continue the use of fossil fuels on Puerto Rico.

All fuels that are supported by the current infrastructure need to be imported. This makes them subject to cabotage laws such as the Jones Act, which adds a significant surplus to the cost. In fact, 50% of energy costs on Puerto Rico are strictly to pay for fuel. Between 2000 and 2009, $22 billion left the local economy to pay for fuel. Puerto Rico should seize the opportunity to break, once and for all, the needless and obstinate dependence on fossil fuels which was responsible for thousands of deaths in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Given these facts, it is flabbergasting that the financial control board in charge of Puerto Rico’s budget is not seriously considering renewable and sustainable energy options. Instead, it is pushing for the widespread consumption of natural gas. Ignoring the issues of a non-democratically appointed control board making these decisions for Puerto Ricans, a massive investment in natural gas is simply not a sustainable solution for the island. It would require significant changes to infrastructure and the addition of multiple pipelines, which would not only unnecessarily expose Puerto Rico’s natural resources to known dangers and complications associated with pipelines, but would also continue and expand the poisonous and irresponsible addiction to fossil fuels.

Notably, the changes needed to accommodate natural gas would not transform the current infrastructure used to deliver energy to consumers. In other words, despite massive investment, Puerto Rico would be just as vulnerable to another blackout of the same magnitude as in Maria’s aftermath. Puerto Rico would also be just as vulnerable to the loss of life associated with such a blackout. Armed with this knowledge, it is negligent to continue to consider fossil fuels as viable options for Puerto Rico moving forward. The island’s energy future must be anchored by renewable and sustainable sources, not fossil fuels.

Written by

Yamil Colón, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Economic Opportunity for Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico Report

Puerto Rico was in a tough economic position before Hurricane Maria. Former Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla had declared the territory’s enormous debt “unpayable” — the result of decades of borrowing more than the Island could hope to pay back. Nearly half the residents of Puerto Rico lived in poverty and the population was both dwindling and aging as working people left Puerto Rico for the mainland.

The hurricane was economically devastating. More than 80% of the island’s crops were destroyed, some 8,000 small businesses closed permanently, and unreliable electricity and water interfered with economic recovery for nearly a year.

But Puerto Rico is recovering, and a number of industries show promise.

Tourism

Puerto Rico is a beautiful island, a tropical paradise, home of the only rainforest in the United States National Parks system, and well known for its music, food, arts, and friendly atmosphere.

Yet before the 2017 hurricane season Puerto Rico had just half the tourism income Hawaii has. Tourism fuels 25% of Hawaii’s economy but accounted for just 6% of Puerto Rico’s before the hurricane season. That is not only far less than Florida or Hawaii, but an extremely low number for the Caribbean, where tourism can often drive more than half of the total economy of some nations.

With the current focused efforts to encourage tourism on the Island, this industry could grow stronger than before.

Information technology

Puerto Rico has an educated, largely bilingual workforce. Remote hiring of U.S. citizens is easier for tech companies than relying on overseas workers. Information work is often outsourced by companies in many industries, and Puerto Rico lets employers avoid issues with currency and time zones.

All these factors make IT a promising field for Puerto Rico. Governor Rossello is actively courting IT companies.He sees Puerto Rico as a good place for a “human cloud,” which can work remotely for anyone in the world. At the same time, the Island is a good physical location for in-person collaboration among companies in the Americas.

The infrastructure is a key issue for IT. Unstable wi-fi and uncertain electricity would be serious obstacles to the governor’s plans. He wrote in a piece in Wired, “We’re giving businesses a chance to test new technologies on a once-unimaginable scale. The rebuilt energy and telecommunications system will be one of the most modern in the world.” If this happens, Puerto Rico could be in a perfect position to blossom into an IT hub.

Manufacturing

In the 20th century, Puerto Rico was positioned as the manufacturing hub of the Caribbean. Things weren’t really as good as they looked. In the early years, “manufacturing” referred primarily to poorly paid needlework done as piecework in homes. Later, special tax incentives allowed U.S. corporations to wash profits through Puerto Rico without providing many jobs or a significant boost to the economy.

Without the Section 936 deals, manufacturers will need a strong infrastructure and robust logistics to consider building factories inn Puerto Rico. However, companies which build facilities in Puerto Rico will benefit from the “Made in the USA” label and the shorter supply chain compared with Asian factories.

Local businesses can also move into manufacturing, benefiting from the educated workforce and the Opportunity Zone advantages.

Agriculture

Agriculture was beginning to show promise before the hurricanes struck, but the industry had become very weak before that brief renaissance The territory was importing 85% of its food. After Hurricane Maria, it was clear that Puerto Rico would be better off with more local food sources.

Puerto Rico could grow much more in food crops than it currently does. Local farms were increasingly being used in restaurants on the Island before the 2017 earthquake season interrupted the trend.

There may be many more opportunities, but these are some of the obvious good bets for Puerto Rico.

The post Economic Opportunity for Puerto Rico appeared first on Puerto Rico Report.

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I On Politics

Western Queens Gazette-Nov 21, 2018

“In New York, we proudly stand with Puerto Rico as we always have before. ... City represents the largest economic development project in New York State history. ... We're going to use this opportunity to open up good careers in tech to ..... For more information or to register, contact Pheffer Amato's office at ...

Story image for Information technology as Economic Opportunity for Puerto Rico from DSNews.com

Rebuilding Paradise

<a href="http://DSNews.com" rel="nofollow">DSNews.com</a>-Nov 22, 2018

With Puerto Rico having marked the one-year anniversary of ... and Urban Development announced that Puerto Rico would receive $18.5 ... the island continues to face both an economic and a foreclosure crisis. ... “The biggest challenge our industry faces is the lack of identifiable information,” Hurst said.

Information technology as Economic Opportunity for Puerto Rico

Technology industry in Puerto Rico - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_industry_in_Puerto_Rico

The technology industry in Puerto Rico represents 28.3% of the manufacturing sector in the economy ofPuerto Rico. ... describing it as "one of the pillars of our economic development program". ... What links here · Related changes · Upload file · Special pages · Permanent link · Page information · Wikidata item · Cite this ...

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