This study aims to improve our knowledge concerning the air quality by analysing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions emanating from motor vehicles. The vehicle fleet was characterized by means of surveys, vehicular seating capacity, and collection of information from both public and private entities. After obtaining the information, the CO2 emissions in tons per year were estimated for the vehicular fleet in 2017 according to data from the Vehicle Registration Center of Loja-CMVLM, and the Municipal Transport Traffic and Road Safety Unit-UMTTSV and after applying a universal formula developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which uses three main variables: number of vehicles, vehicular activity and emission factor. The results show that in the city of Loja the vehicular fleet emitted 208,920 tons of CO2 in 2017. Private transportation with 60 % is the one that mainly contributed to the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, followed by public transport under UMTTSV regulation with 33 % and 7 % corresponded to new vehicles, motorcycles and government vehicles. The main factors that determine vehicle CO2 emissions into the atmosphere are: the number of vehicles and the number of hours of vehicular operation in the area of investigation. On the other hand, vehicular increase is due to: the enlargement of the urban perimeter and activity pertaining to the local economy.
Due to its zero-marginal-cost, the high penetration of renewable energy sources in the electricity markets threatens incumbents’ business models who are gradually shifting towards fixed power charges instead of the traditional energy charges. The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of these fixed power charges on the economics of PV systems under self-consumption schemes. Using real demand and generation data, simulations include detailed computation of annual billing savings, payback-time, self-consumption and self-sufficiency of a dwelling coupled with PV-battery system. A range of PV array and battery sizes are explored for different storage control strategies. Billing scenarios include a) only energy charges, b) Portuguese case (high energy charges and low fixed charges), c) Spanish case (low energy charges and high fixed charges), and d) only fixed charges. Results show that fixed charges require adding storage to residential PV systems. In spite of battery relative high costs, results also show that photovoltaics can be profitable with payback times below 10 years in all scenarios, as long as appropriately sized and with the suitable storage control strategy.
Reducing solar infrastructure costs is one of the main reasons for its global growth. In Ecuador adjustments to the legal framework have to be made to encourage the installation of small photovoltaic solar structures for electricity customers connected to low voltage distribution networks for their personal consumption, and any surplus energy be injected into the grid. Three business models pertaining to the distributed microgeneration of PV have been considered, for which we consider two applicable measurement systems: the first one is called “net metering” where the net value of the energy (the difference between the one injected into the network and the one consumed) is determined, and the second known as “Feed-in Tariff” - FIT where the energy injected into the grid is set at a special incentive price. The cost of energy produced by a photovoltaic system in Ecuador is USD/kWh 0.1342 with a discount rate 7%, CF (capacity factor) at 15%, while a discount rate 10%, CF at 20% the cost reduces to USD / kWh 0.1229. These values however, do not take into account the bank of batteries or the land, these values are increasingly more competitive in relation to non-conventional renewable sources.
El objetivo del presente trabajo está relacionado con el proyecto de investigación “Evaluación de la contaminación atmosférica por fuentes de combustión en la ciudad de Loja y su mitigación con energías renovables”, que se desarrolla en la UNL y específicamente con la caracterización de las emisiones gaseosas y material particulado de las fuentes de contaminación atmosférica por combustión de fuentes móviles y fijas en la ciudad de Loja. En el presente trabajo se calcularon las emisiones a partir de calefones que utilizan como combustible Gas Licuado de Petróleo (GLP), así como el nivel de contaminación del aire por Dióxido de Azufre (SO2), Óxidos de Nitrógeno (NOx) y Material Particulado (MP10) producido por estas fuentes de combustión y su posible relación con las Enfermedades Respiratorias Agudas (ERAs). Se proponen Conclusiones y Recomendaciones.
This paper describes a complex terrain wind farm case study in the Ecuadorian Andes. The Windfarm Villonaco is located in southern Ecuador, 640km of Quito, 2700 m a.s.l. with 16.5 MW power output. The objective is to compare actual power production from an existing wind farm with power production predicted by Meteodyn WT, which is a CFD tool based on a nonlinear flow model. The results of this work show that the calculation of the annual energy production of the Villonaco Wind Farm using Meteodyn WT is equal to 69.0 GWh / year, with a capacity factor of 53%.