Can renewable energy technologies improve the management of stressed water resources threatened by climate change? Argentine drylands case study

Gustavo Nadal (), Gonzalo Bravo (), Leonidas Girardin () and Sebastián Gortari ()
Additional contact information
Gonzalo Bravo: http://www.fundacionbariloche.org.ar

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2013, vol. 15, issue 4, 1079-1097

Abstract: This work addresses increasing concerns about water management for rural productive activities in the vast dry regions of Latin America by assessing renewable energy technologies (RETs) that could be suitable for localized needs. Forecasted trends in climate change and variability make this analysis very relevant, in an area where very little published work exists. While Argentina is widely known for its fertile pampas, around 75 % of the country consists of dry lands. In addition, erosion is increasing by up to 650,000 hectares each year. The coordinated adoption of a set of actions, including land use planning and strengthening productive activities that guarantee access to water and improve water and soil management is needed. Renewable energies could help towards achieving these aims, if water is made available at affordable costs and with suitable technologies. This paper evaluates experiences with three RETs—photovoltaic pumping from deep wells, small wind turbine pumping, and high-power wind turbines, and discusses a potential role for use in rural Argentina. Although cheaper and more reliable renewable alternatives to energy sources such as diesel could be used for pumping from groundwater resources in isolated locations, limitations arise when pumping head and/or water volume requirements are large or highly seasonal. The cost increases and technical challenges of accessing this deeper water, as indicated by case studies, emphasize the importance of planning and support schemes development. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Keywords: Water pumping; Water stress; Climate change; Rural development; Renewable energy technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10668-012-9427-8 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:15:y:2013:i:4:p:1079-1097

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-012-9427-8

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().