by Alejandra Chávez
The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) has a population of 8.851 million people (2010), making it the largest and most populated urban area in the country. It is well within the “sun-belt” of Earth, with solar incidence areas of over 5 kWh/m2/ day radiation. Though there is a high potential for renewable energy, there is little incentive by policymakers to take advantage of an energy source that could better conserve the environment, limit the amount of natural and/or technical interruptions, and be an economic relief to the MCMA. The authors support the development of and rationalize that solar photovoltaic (PV) technology to harvest its energy potential. This technology is economically competitive to give energy to vulnerable areas that often do not require as much power. Because energy transition diagnostic is not very organized, it is vital for decision-makers to be aware of the social and economic difficulties in MCMA.
Within the MCMA, there about 63% of the population has a ‘medium’ to a ‘very high’ degree of marginalization. In this text, marginalization is defined by the National Population Council, which explains that is it when a community is at a disadvantage via exposure to hazards and instabilities. More specifically, these communities in MCMA have significant restrictions when adapting to energy conditions; thus, they develop a higher dependency on the resources that surround them. For these reasons, the authors call on the State to ensure that the governmental policies that focus on energy issues and social exclusion be either created or enforced. Ultimately, the authors question if the local and federal public strategies are willing to boost social development and urban sustainability. Their research focuses on analyzing the social and environmental agenda to further investigate interests between the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, techno-environmental marginalization, and solar photovoltaic (PV) technology-based energy transition.
Arenas-Aquino, A.R., Matsumoto-Kuwabara, Y. & Kleiche-Dray, M. Environ Sci Pollut Res (2017). doi:10.1007/s11356-017-8387-9
Springer Link (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-017-8387-9)
Email addresses: Ángel Raúl Arenas-Aquino (email@example.com)