Towards the construction of a sustainable rural energy system: Case study of an indigenous community in Mexico

One of the challenges that rural communities face is the satisfaction of their energy demand through sustainable processes, where the production, distribution and final consumption of energy are involved in an efficient, affordable, and non-polluting way. This proposal analyzes, for a rural community in Mexico, the economic and environmental impacts associated with meeting the energy demand for lighting, cooking, entertainment and technology needs, hygiene, education and mobility; by formulating three different scenarios: (a) estimation of current energy consumption (baseline) (b) satisfaction of said needs through locally available renewable energy resources, and (c) satisfaction of needs and their potential impacts by making use of efficient technologies with respect to current technologies, for refrigeration, firewood combustion, and lighting. The results show a current distribution in energy consumption of 66.8 % for cooking, 26.2 % for hygiene, 6.6 % for mobility, 0.8 % for lighting, 0.6 % for entertainment and technology, and 0.03 % for education. In total economic expenditure, the percentages by type of need are 58 % for mobility, 28 % for cooking, 11 % for hygiene, 2 % for lighting, 1 % for entertainment and technology, and 0.1 % for education. The environmental impact in terms of nitrogen oxide (NOx), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is, like the energy consumption, oriented to a greater extent towards energy needs that require thermal energy. Our evaluation of these scenarios has shown that the available energy resources are sufficient to supply all the local energy demand, through technologies such as solar panels, LED lights and efficient combustion stoves; and only less than 5 % of the total production of wood residues that the community generates is required to achieve this satisfaction. Finally, some guidelines are suggested for an energy management strategy that is based on the scenarios proposed for the studied community. This article provides information for the construction of sustainable rural energy systems and for the development of energy management schemes in rural and self-governing communities.(c) 2022 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.