The plant provides heating and hot water to a municipal building sets of three, five housing cooperatives, thirteen individual houses and a pool. By considering a draft copy and replicable in other municipalities, the IDEA has made a DVD to demonstrate that it has been sent to the mayors of some two hundred Spanish municipalities that meet certain requirements such as:

• Demand for heating / cooling or heat for other applications for at least 6 months.
• Existence of organic waste from agricultural crops / forest garden prunings or related industries.

The DVD was launched last March 7 at the neck, in a ceremony attended by the Mayor of the population, the Director General of the IDEA and the Regional Authority for Energy. The DVD presented was shot in Segovia’s population with the help of their neighbors, the protagonists of the film.

In the framework of the European Union, Spain has a clear commitment to Renewable Energy sources have a greater role in energy balance. The launch of the 2005-2010 Renewable Energy Plan is an expression of that commitment. Under this Plan, the use of biomass resources for electricity for heating and occupies an important place.

Biomass is a natural resource, renewable in nature, that nature puts at our disposal to be used with great advantages energy, environmental, economic and user comfort.

In the late ’80s was one of the poorest regions in Austria due to outdated economy based on agriculture, population declines close to 30%. To create jobs, it was decided to establish a concept of development based on harnessing renewable energy sources available home in the same municipality in place of fossil fuels.

Including transport, energy requirements per household amounted to 3,500 € / year, representing a whopping 35 million € / year for nearly 10,000 homes in the city and surroundings (Güssing has 4400 inhabitants). But there was an extremely abundant resource in the area and hardly used: the biomass available in over 45,000 hectares.

Then were evaluated energy consumption and savings potential, and it all started in 1991 with the production of rapeseed-based biodiesel and a remote heating network based on biomass. Thus Güssing solved its supply of thermal energy and fuel, but missing the third leg: electricity, so it was decided to establish a biomass power plant.

In 2001 he devised a revolutionary new type of plant with which enable the decentralization of electricity through a gasification process. This process allows not only high energy output, but also can simultaneously generate electricity and heat.

Creating more than 1,000 jobs

The concept of sustainable development established in this region, along with the 35% reduction in energy prices, has attracted over 50 companies, creating 1,000 jobs, of which 140 are directly related to energy. Also, are visited by thousands of people every month, especially experts and students, who go there to see with their own eyes what is happening.

This example is spreading. The Burgenland region, which has 280,000 inhabitants has decided to be 100% renewable in 2013 following the same pattern.

That sets an example

Again, an example of sustainable regional development and self-sufficient. To me automatically comes to my head a country like Spain, where agriculture is becoming less viable and competitive, but the energy is a increasingly expensive and scarce. Güssing is another demonstration of the feasibility of economic progress with the development environment.

We could divide them into 6 major groups:

• Solar energy (photovoltaic, thermal, thermoelectric)
• Wind Energy
• Hydraulic Power
• Energy of the Sea (marine, undimotrz, maremotérmica)
• Geothermal Energy
• Biomass Energy (Residual Biomass, Biofuels, energy crops, municipal solid waste)

The latter has its own peculiarities as it produces CO2 emissions. However, these emissions can be considered carbon neutral since it is already found in the natural cycle of life, and not released into the bargain as with the exploitation of fossil fuels.

We will explore in depth each.

As a contrast, are non-renewable energy, those that are limited and once irrestituibles fully exploited. Curiously also note that it is the worst polluters.

• Petroleum
• Coal
• Natural Gas
• Nuclear Energy

It is possible to replace it before the last four for the first six …