Coastal city and ocean renewable energy: pathway to an eco-San Andres

Abstract

Proactively planning for sustainable coastal cities is increasingly important as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Scientific research indicates that greenhouse gas emissions, mainly induced by using non-renewable energy, are elevating temperatures and sea levels for coastal cities all around the world. Other issues that aggravate the challenge for coastal cities include: the continued growth of population on and around coastlines; the acute conflict between increasing energy demand and decreasing amount of natural energy resource. All evidences lead to one fundamental element for coastal eco cities: utilizing renewable energy from the ocean to make coastal cities more ecologically and economically sustainable.

The subject of this study is San Andres, a Colombian island in the Caribbean Sea that was declared as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2000 for its well-preserved ecosystem and biodiversity. Regrettably, it is currently 100% dependent on imported fossil fuels and has a high level of greenhouse gas emission. The mono economy relying on tourism implicates financial incentives of various stakeholders to seek an eco solution. The system boundary of this study is drawn to transform San Andres into an oasis of sustainability for both inhabitants and tourists by using ocean renewable energy.

The pathway for such transformation starts with an intuitive thinking about the essences of coastal eco cities by conducting a SWOT analysis. A promising selection of ocean renewable energy has been investigated in-depth: solar, wave, wind and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). After identifying the legal constraints, this study proposes an ocean renewable energy portfolio based on two scenarios comprehensively considering various investment scales and energy consumption: government-centred scenario and community-oriented scenario. It is shown that the production of clean energy under both scenarios has lower cost than the current generation cost based on fossil fuels. The implementation of the scenarios might positively affect other aspects of the city such as improving water supply, lowering the demand of electricity, increasing community involvement. Marketing scheme and transferability to other tropical island cities have been developed in the later parts.

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ORCID for Philip A. Wilson: orcid.org/0000-0002-6939-682X

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