Paseo fotovoltaico

La mejor manera de asimilar y asentar los conocimientos teóricos que se adquiere es viendo y tocando físicamente las cosas. Con éste fin dimos un paseo por distintas escuelas dentro de la Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid en compañía de nuestro profesor de Sistemas Fotovoltaicos, Oscar.

La primera parada la hicimos frente a la facultad de Ciencias Físicas de la UCM, donde vimos los distintos aparatos de medida que tenían instalados en el tejado, entre ellos un par de anemómetros, un termómetro varias filas de módulos fotovoltaicos y un aerogenerador de pequeño tamaño.

Después fuimos a la facultad de Telecomunicaciones, en cuyo aparcamiento se hallan instalados varios prototipos de generadores fotovoltaicos de concentración. Éstos van desde un gran generador instalado sobre un seguidor solar, a un cilindro parabólico de concentración fotovoltaica, que sustituye el tubo en lineal instalado en el foco de los CSP por células fotovoltaicas (tal cómo se pueden observar en la foto). Ésta rama de la tecnología tiene cómo ventaja que para la misma potencia instalada necesita una superficie de célula muchísimo menor que en los módulos estándar pero, por contrapartida, se encuentra estancada debido a que el escenario al que se somete la fotocélula es uno de los peores ya que se aumenta la temperatura de ésta y ello conlleva una gran pérdida de eficiencia y vida útil de la célula de silicio.

La última parada la efectuamos en el Instituto de Energía Solar en cuya fachada se instalaron varias filas de módulos fotovoltaicos debido a que el color de la misma es muy oscuro y donde el uso del generador tiene dos finalidades. Por un lado se quiere apoyar (de manera modesta) la factura eléctrica del edificio y por otro, los módulos actúan a modo de toldo o parasol para las ventanas que se encuentran debajo de cada fila. También accedimos a la sala en la que se encuentran los inversores y la caja de conexión de la instalación. Después accedimos a la cubierta del IES, en dónde se están haciendo pruebas a varios tipos de módulos y cuyos datos se monitorizan a fin de ver su comportamiento a lo largo del tiempo. En ésta cubierta, se han instalado también dos piranómetros, uno en el plano de uno de los módulos a fin de medir la media diaria de la irradiancia global en el plano del generador G_d,m(β,α) y otro situado en la horizontal. Éste último tiene la particularidad de que tiene adherido un sistema de seguimiento del sol que le provoca sombra a fin de recoger la media mensual diaria de la irradiancia difusa en el plano horizontal D_d,m(0).

Antes de regresar a nuestra escuela vimos la “Magic Box”. Se trata de un proyecto de casa autosuficiente desde el punto de vista energético que fue presentada en un concurso por la UPM. Es un claro ejemplo de la posibilidad de integrar las EE.RR a nuestras necesidades de electricidad mediante el uso de módulos fotovoltaicos (tanto en cubierta cómo integrados en los paramentos de la casa) y el almacenamiento de la electricidad en una batería de acumuladores situados en la parte posterior de la misma. Podría ser uno de los primeros pasos aunque su coste es demasiado alto aunque, en mi opinión, se debe a que han prevalecido criterios estéticos por encima de la mera satisfacción de necesidades prácticas. No obstante, ésto sería un tema para otro post.

Comentarios desactivados en Paseo fotovoltaico / 20 Ene 2012 por Alex Cosor
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The Millennium Development Goals: Northerm Africa

The purpose of this post is to introduce the Millennium Development Goals, to then make an analysis of compliance with these objectives in North Africa.

Consequently the first thing is to define the millennium development goals. The Millennium Development Goals include the commitment made in 2000 by members of the United Nations.

The objectives set at this summit will have a deadline to be achieved by 2015. For each goal is set targets with a series of indicators capable of showing the compliance of each objective.

In 2010 the United Nations published a report on the fulfillment of the goals by the year 2010 in different regions of the world. This report was produced to coincide with the UN Summit in 2010 in New York, and served to show the way to go to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 as planned.

Then I am going to show you the Millennium Development Goals and their implementation in 2010 for North Africa:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Northern Africa is the developing region that less proportion of the population has an income less than $ 1.25 a day, with only 3% of the population living on this income. The opposite occurs in Sub-Saharian Africa where 51% of the population is below this threshold. In this sense, North Africa is very close to reaching the target set for this region of 2% of the population living on less than $ 1.25.

In the case of employment rates and productivity per worker also show positive values, the regions most affected by the global economic crisis, but in the case of North Africa in these direction indicators have little improved and are close to achieving the objectives.

In the case of hunger, North Africa population undernourished is less than 5% , this is so good.

Child underweight is on the way solution, in this sense is also one of the regions with lower rates of underweight

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Most children in North Africa go to school; this is very important to get the development of the region and therefore helps to achieve the MDG.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

In this area the indicators show almost equality in primary and secondary schooling, but as it increases the level of education is seen as inequality rises, being significantly higher than the percentage of men with higher education.

Women’s access to skilled jobs is one of the most unfavorable indicators of this objective, only 10% of the top-level jobs are filled by women.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

North Africa is one of the region that is doing a better work in this sense, has not yet reached the target set, but mortality rate for children under age five is very close to be reduced under 20 per 1000. In 1980 this percentage was about 80 per 1000, this means that the effort made has been very big. One important factor that helps to achieve this rates are that the proportion of child’s who receive at least one dose of measles vaccine during the first 12-23 months, these rates are comparable with a develop country. Also relation with that is the education of the mothers .The education in this sense plays a big role, the child’s with mothers without education have mortality rate under age five double of one child with educated mother.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

The proportion of deliveries attended by skilled health in the North of Africa is actually the 80%, is remarkable the increase between 1990 and 2008, in 1980 this proportion was only the 46%. Also is remarkable the decrease of young woman pregnancy, this decreases the risk of maternal deaths and it is achieved thanks to the trained health-care workers.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases

Understanding how to prevent transmission of HIV is the first step to avoiding infection. The education is quite important in this field, in North of Africa most of the people know how to prevent HIV/AIDS (use of condoms) and also the treatments of people who suffers AIDS/HIV has increased, specially the treatment for avoid contagious between mother and her future child. Diseases like malaria and tuberculosis (4 deaths per 100000) is not relevant in this region

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Indicators such as the deforestation rate (low) and the rate of carbon emissions (below) show that North Africa is a region of the most sustainable. Another positive indicator is access to improved water to the population has reached the target set for 2015 (92% of the population), besides sanitation indicators are very good (Proportion of population using an improved sanitation-87% rural areas, and 95% urban areas), this contributes to the improve the health of the population, because the sanitation avoid multiple diseases.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Only five donor countries have reached the goal of the UN in helping official, only five donor countries have reached the goal of the UN in helping officially, this is explained by the economic crisis, developed countries allocate less money to developing countries.

On the other hand, as regards access to the markets of developing countries there is good news, since the percentage of the products imported by developed countries from less developed countries has increased in recent years.

I will end my post with a desire:

I hope that changes are occurring in countries of North Africa like Egypt, Tunisia or Libya routed the establishment of democratic systems that allow develop their full potential as a sovereigns countries.

Resources:

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202010%20En%20r15%20-low%20res%2020100615%20-.pdf#

Comentarios desactivados en The Millennium Development Goals: Northerm Africa / 19 Ene 2012 por Ruben Pardo Hernangomez
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Constructions and the management of their projects

Construction projects are not processes because each construction is different from another one. It´s quite like traditional crafts because from raw materials something new is built. And these projects have a problem, at least here in Spain, where I´ve studied Construction Engineering and worked in this sector for about 2 years. The problem is that they never get ended on time or budget and neither quality.

During the past 10 years there has been built a lot and very fast. This has as an result the loss of quality. Even if these constructions were above cost it wasn´t a big problem because the customers were like crazy to buy at almost any price a new home.

Nowadays the few projects that are being constructed, don´t accomplish the baseline neither. And it´s not due to the workload.

So, why does this occur? Well I don´t have all the answers but I do have one clue of why this happens. It´s because we don´t plan in detail all the phases during the planning phase. And when we do it, it´s just a copy paste from a previous project, which is also wrong because the location is always a crucial point because it determines the suppliers you´ll have in the area, the materials and machinery disposable, etc.

The budget also fails because the designer of the project, usually, just copies from a previous budget from a previous project, without taking into account the new location where the project is going to be developed.

So if the initial budget is lower as the real one needed to accomplish the project, and you also go upon time (which means you go upon the budget), this has as an result that someone loses money.

I´ve once worked with a German engineer on a project, and he was astonished about the fact that here we plan the building work during three months and execute the project in 3 years. He told me that in Germany it is quite the opposite, they plan and project the building work during 3 years and execute it perfectly in 3 months.

In my opinion this is the main cause because of which the majority of projects in the constructions sector don´t achieve the objectives settled by the project plan.

The solution is to plan everything in detail and expect the unexpected, because there always happens something in each project which turns a normal task into a quite critical one.

Comentarios desactivados en Constructions and the management of their projects / 18 Ene 2012 por Alex Cosor
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La Presa Hoover

El proyecto de la Presa Hoover, un hito arquitectónico de los más famosos en los EE.UU. y un ejemplo de construcción en los lugares más inhóspitos donde el coste humano fué realmente considerable.

La presa está ubicada entre dos estados, Arizona y Nevada (Estados Unidos), comenzó a ser construida en 1931. Consiste en una gran presa con estructura de hormigón encajada en el cañón negro, la cual soporta las caudalosas aguas del Río Colorado Con una longitud de 380m, una altura de 220m y un ancho de 200m en su base es una de las presas más grandes del mundo y dió origen al Lago Mead.

Fué el proyecto de ingeniería más complicado técnicamente de su época. Los desafíos que había que superar resultaban imposibles para la mayoría de los ingenieros. Frank Crowe consiguió con su perseverancia y grandes ideas acabar la construcción 2 años y 2 meses antes de lo previsto.

Historia

El Río Colorado era de los más caudalosos y peligrosos del mundo, en las crecidas de primavera provocaba inundaciones que se llevaba por delante las cosechas de mucha gente. Por lo que el gobierno se implicó en la construcción de la presa, controlaría las inundaciones y suministraría electricidad a muchos hogares.

El lugar escogido para hacer la presa estaba en medio del desierto, lugar inhóspito, sin mano de obra, red de transporte ni infraestructuras. Algo que complicó mucho la situación. Lo más cercano que sirvió como medio de transporte fue el ferrocarril que llegaba a las Vegas (a 48km de la presa).

Hay que destacar que la rápida ejecución de la obra tiene que ver con que los años de construcción (1931-1935), los cuales coinciden con una época de gran depresión en la que un cuarto de la población estaba en el paro. Por lo que, desde el momento que se anunciaron los puestos de trabajo, en 3 semanas ya contaban con 12.000 solicitudes. El trabajo era tan escaso que los obreros eran como rehenes, corrían cualquier riesgo.

El calendario fijado por el ingeniero Crowe era increíblemente apretado, además en el contrato había una penalización de 2400€/día por tiempo extra por lo que las obras incluso empezaron antes de tiempo.

Construcción

En Abril 1931 comienzan las explosiones en el cañón para conseguir crear 4 túneles que permitan desviar el río, una corriente de 850m3 agua/s. Nunca antes se había hecho para un caudal tan grande.

En Mayo y Julio 1931 tiene a los obreros trabajando 24h al día y 7 días a las semana, con solo 3 días de vacaciones al año no remuneradas por supuesto.

Con esas condiciones e introduciendo un avance que consiste en la creación de un Camión Jumbo, el cual puede llevar a 30hombres taladrando a la vez, consigue progresar bastante más rápido.

Las temperaturas son extremas para los obreros, dentro de los túneles incluso peores, ya que se concentraban todos los gases del tráfico de camiones. Muchos obreros caen derrotados por agotamiento, insolaciones, mareos e intoxicaciones.

Mientras se tunelaba, también se trabajaba en lo alto del cañón. Los escaladores retiraban rocas sueltas con martillos hidráulicos y dinamita. Las paredes debían estar limpias antes de empezar. Aunque cobraban un 40% más, se arriesgaban a peligros de desprendimiento constantes.

El 14 Diciembre de 1932 se terminaron los 4 túneles de desviación y se desvía el agua por los túneles. La Fase 1 se acaba en 18 meses , 10 meses antes de lo esperado. Comienza la Fase 2, que consiste en la construcción de la presa en sí misma. El ingrediente principal será el hormigón y es la primera vez que se usa a una escala tan grande.

La presa de arco de gravedad se basa en dos principios; el primero el propio peso del hormigón, que fija la estructura al suelo y el segundo, la forma en arco desvía el empuje del agua hacia el terreno a través de los laterales.

Por lo que el principal problema es tener 3,4millones de metros de hormigón, una barbaridad. Se construyen 2 grandes fábricas de cemento al lado de la presa para tener el suministro garantizado.

No es posible crear una estructura de hormigón de esas dimensiones en una sola pieza debido sobretodo al proceso de fraguado del hormigón. Tardaría más de 100 años en secarse. Al mezclarse los ingredientes genera una reacción química que ralentiza el fraguado (tiempo de endurecimiento). Si el calor no se dispersa se crean grietas que debilitan la estructura.

Por lo que el ingeniero decide ayudarse de un método ya usado en otra presa, crear una estructura de bloques entrelazados agregándole un sistema de tuberías internas por las que introducía agua para enfriar el proceso y que el fraguado fuese más rápido. Estas tuberías se llenaban de lechada posteriormente para no constituir un debilitamiento estructural.

Crowe fomentaba la competitividad entre obreros para aumentar su ritmo de trabajo, al día se colocaban 8000m3 de hormigón. En 1934 las obras van por delante de los plazos.

Por fin, el 31 de Enero de 1935 se realiza la Gran prueba. Acabada la pared en arco, se bajaron las compuertas de los túneles y se permitió que en el río se embalsara el agua por primera vez. Mientras se formabae el lago en la presa, se acabanban las centrales eléctricas, una en cada lado.

El 30 de Septiembre de 1935 se inaugura la presa y un mes después ya trabaja el generador a plena carga. A continuación los 17 generadores alimentarán a 100.000 hogares, el equivalente a 2 centrales nucleares.

Con la presa terminada el caudaloso Río Colorado fué domesticado y el desierto se transformó en una tierra fértil y productiva.

La presa Hoover se terminó dos años y un mes y 28 días antes antes de lo previsto y costó 12millones de euros menos de los 1.360millones de Euros. Por lo que hubo una bonificación de 4millones de euros para el ingeniero Crowe.

Al acabarse en 1935 era la presa más grande y que mayor energía producía del mundo, todo ello gracias al trabajo y la valentía de 21.000 obreros. Sin el esfuerzo y entrega de toda la mano de obra casi esclavizada, no se habría podido llevar a cabo.

Fué y será un gran hito para la construcción, ya que las lecciones aprendidas son las especificaciones que se siguen usando hoy día para realizar las presas más grandes del mundo.

Comentarios desactivados en La Presa Hoover / 18 Ene 2012 por Maria del Mar Fandi-o Pardavila
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The Millennium Development Goals: SOUTHERN ASIA

In September 2000, the largest ever gathering of heads of state ushered in the new millennium by adopting the UN Millennium Declaration. The declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, was then translated into a roadmap setting out goals to be reached by 2015.

The eight goals in the section on development and poverty eradication are known as The Millenium Development Goals. They build on agreements made at major United Nations’ conferences of the 1990s and represent commitments to reduce poverty and hunger, to tackle ill health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water, and environmental degradation. The big difference from their predecessors is that rather than just set targets for what developing countries aspire to achieve, the goals are framed as a compact that recognises the contribution that developed countries can make through fair trade, development assistance, debt relief, access to essential medicines, and technology transfer.

Next year another important milestone will be carried out, with the Conference on Sustainable Development –Río +20-, being an opportunity to generate momentum in this direction, and so, vital for achieving the MDGs.

Despite the report take into account the situation for all the developing countries, in this post we are going to focus in Southern Asia, whose countries included are shown in the following picture:

MDGs 2015 GOALS

#1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

One of the things that allow us to measure the poverty and so, the hunger of a country is the income that people have to survive. In this sense, we could see how at the same time that the MDGs were adopted , the aids directed to developing countries were increasing, showing a sustained growth in these countries, especially in Asia, getting a poverty-reduction in the Southern part of the continent from 49% to 39% (being India the most relevant case, reducing to 31% if we exclude it) between 1990 and 2005.

The expectations are of continuing decreasing, even though the actual financial crisis that began in the advanced countries of North America and Europe, which mean a slower growth globally.

In terms of achieving full and productive employment (on the left), and the porpotion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment (on the right), there are not big advances, and the situation is more or less the same, comparing it with 2000:

Sadly, the most remarkable figures in Southern Asia are found in the undernutration, in such a way that there was no meaningful improvement among children in the poorest households in the period between 1995 and 2009, while underweight prevalence among children from the richest 20 per cent of households decreased by almost a third:

#2: Achieve universal primary education

In the developing countries as a whole, enrolment in primary education has increased slowlyIs. Is the case of Southern Asia, which is another target to improve, as still there is a distribution of 16 million of children out of school, representing the 24%.

On the other hand, Southern Asia lead the way in expanding literacy among youth, with an increase of 20 percentage points (from 60% to 80%). Despite that, there is still 65 million of all illiterate youth living in Southern Asia.

#3: Promote gender equality and empower women

As the years pass, we see how the possibility for girls to access to the primary, secondary and tertiary education is approaching to the boys, and framed as an ambitius goal of the MDGs of reaching almost the 100%.

We see also a considerable improvement in the proportion of women in paid work, being in aproximately a 20%, which is one of the greatest results among the developing countries.

The number of women in the Southern Asia parliaments is 18 in 2011, increased in 11 since 2000, which means the start of the women of being represented in all the roles that exist in a country.

#4: Reduce child mortality

Southern Asia has the second highest rate in under-five mortality , with 69 deaths per 1.000 live births or about one child in 14. Over half of all these childhood deaths occur in the first 28 days after birth, pointing to the need for better post-natal care. The main reason of this (about a third) is the under nutrition, so, it is reallly important to focus our efforts to fight illnesses such us pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, for trying to save the lives of millions of children.

Moreover, it is important to realize in fact that is in the rural areas and children from the poorest households, are more damaged to the possibility of dying.

#5: Improve maternal health

Even though Sothern Asia has made steady progress in this issue, with a 53% decline in maternal mortality between 1990 and 2008, the number of 280 deaths per 100.000 live births continue being quite big. Therefore, the objective fixed by the MDGs is to decrease it in a 50%.

The maternal care has improved, above all due to the increase in deliveries attended by health personnel, wich allows to detect and manage possible complications during the pregnancy and childbirth. Aproximately the 70% of pregnant women receive at leasr minimal care.

In terms of pregnancy among women between 15 to 19 years old has decreased a lot, from 89% por 1000 births in 1990 to 53% in 2009. Despite that, the need for contraceptives follows being a principle aid for them, basicly through the family support.

#6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Regarding to the different diseases we can find, the number of new HIV infections per year per 100 people aged 15-49 in 2009 in Southern Asia have decreased to 0.02, from the 0.04 in 2001. These good numbers are due to the increasing knowledge about this disease among people, and also because of everytime more population living with HIV (including also women to prevent mother-to-child transmission) are receiving antiretroviral treatment. In 2004 the percentage of people treated was of 2 in Southern Asia, and in 2009 it increased until 24.

#7: Ensure environmental sustainability

The CO² emissions in 1990 in Southern Asia was 1.0 Billions of metric tons and 2.5 in 2008 a significant increase (mostly due to to the induatrial developement in countries like India), water resources in the region in 2005 was 58% and scarcity 60% a bit far from sustainable limits which is 75%. In respect to social issues and environmental impact, the proportion of population using improved sanitation facilities in 1990 was 25% and 36% in 2008 very far from 2015 target of 63%.

In terms of sanitation facilities, although the general percentage has improved till a value of 36% in 2008, the parity between urban/rural ratio still contiunue being quite unfavorable, in such a way that imrpoved sanitation has failed to reach the poorest households in parts of Southern Asia.

#8: Develop a global partnership for development

The percentage of the external debt service payments which means the proportion of export revenues points out a decrease deeply from 13.7% to 3.5 % (from 2000 to 2009). The UN report indicates that the ratio of public debt service to exports increased for all developing regions except Southern Asia, Western Asia and Oceania, with the overall average rising to 3.6 %. Rich countries should provide debt-relief, aid, financial stability and access to new technology for developing countries backed by a commitment to free trade and market access.

To conclude, I would say that most of Southern Asia has been left behind in the overall economic upturn in Asia. In the past three decades, the economies of Southern Asia’s countries have grown by 4 to 6 per cent and the gross national income by only 1.4 per cent. Although poverty declined by one third, the incidence of poverty, in terms of the percentage of the population living below the government poverty line, is higher in Southern Asia than in any other region in the world except sub-Saharan Africa.

Resources:

The Millennium Development Goal Report 2011: www.un.org/millenniumgoals/11_MDG%20Report_EN.pdf

United Nations Millennium Declaration: http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

Opinion Article (BMJ, A Haines): http://www.bmj.com/content/329/7462/394.short

Rural Poverty Portal: http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/web/guest/region/home/tags/asia

Comentarios desactivados en The Millennium Development Goals: SOUTHERN ASIA / 18 Ene 2012 por Alfonso Medal Rendal
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La Carretera Interoceánica (Brasil – Perú)

La carretera interoceánica es una vía de conexión entre Brasil y Perú, iniciada en el marco de megaproyectos de IIRSA (Iniciativa de Integración Regional Sudamericana). Este proyecto tiene como objetivo facilitar el acceso de Brasil a la costa del Pacífico (y a los mercados de Asia) y de la misma forma la transferencia de los productos asiáticos hasta la costa Atlántica (mercados de los Estados Unidos, Europa y Brasil). El acceso permitirá también la introducción de productos peruanos al mercado brasilero. La parte correspondiente al Perú consistió en la construcción de 2603 Km de carretera divididos en 5 tramos, incluyendo 17 Km de vías urbanas y 22 puentes en diversos puntos del eje.

Inicialmente el coste estimado del proyecto fue de $1.031 millones. Oficialmente los tramos 2, 3 y 4 representaron una inversión aproximada de $810 millones, y los tramos 1 y 5 oscilaron entre los $199 millones. A inicios del 2008, se publicó que la totalidad del proyecto implicaría un coste de $1.314 millones, aproximadamente un 30% más de lo estimado. El proyecto fue financiado principalmente por el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo de Brasil (BNDES) y la Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF).

El alza en los costes se dio debido a ciertos riesgos financieros y de tiempo, y a la existencia de costes inesperados, como la inclusión de áreas de conservación regional, reordenamiento territorial, gestión ambiental, y creación de comités de coordinación regional. Todas estas actividades asociadas al proyecto incrementaron su coste global en al menos $56 millones. Otros factores que incidieron en el coste total fueron la construcción de la represa de Inambari que inunda ciertas partes de los tramos 3 y 4.

En la fase de viabilidad ocurrieron varios retrasos en lo que fue la suscripción de contratos de concesión para los tramos 2,3 y 4. La licitación en los tramos 1 y 5 también sufrieron demora. Diferentes organizaciones realizaron protestas por la mala gestión del proyecto (CAF-INRENA), reclamando el cumplimiento de un programa de Gestión Ambiental y Social de los Impactos Indirectos del proyecto.

Finalmente haciendo un análisis más socioeconómico, esta claro existió una irresponsabilidad por parte del gobierno, aceptando y dando las concesiones con estudios de solo prefactibilidad con intereses políticos, La obra inició sin contar con proyectos de ingeniería detallados (solo algunos kilómetros de cada tramo).

En los grandes proyectos es complicado estimar diferentes factores directos e indirectos que pueden afectan la viabilidad y ejecución de los mismos. Proyectos grandes se componen de varios proyectos menores que requieren estudios segmentados y detallados para su correcto desempeño. Los intereses político-económicos muchas veces se ponen por encima de la mesa implicando una gran barrera para el cumplimiento del ciclo de vida de un proyecto.

Comentarios desactivados en La Carretera Interoceánica (Brasil – Perú) / 18 Ene 2012 por Jorge Andre Lewis Urizar
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Costa Rica´s New National Stadium

In 2007, the government of Costa Rica decided to start diplomatic relationships with the government of China and establish multiple bilateral agreements. In this process, the government of China decided to retrieve Costa Rica, for leading that iniciative through a gift. Based on the needs of Costa Rican society and on their previous experience in the construction of mega-infrastructures for the Olympic Games, they decided to donate Costa Rica a brand new National Stadium. This new stadium was planned to be designed and built by Chinese workers.

In this manner, the planning phase started. The location of this stadium was intended to be the same one of the old National Stadium in the Metropolitan Park of La Sabana, in the middle of San José city. Chinese engineers and architects then visited the country and the zone to start doing the designs and material lists and complete project plan.

At the same time, the government of Costa Rica started the demolition of the stadium in May 2008 and ended on July of the same year.

As that ended, all the operations for the movement of 1300 Chinese workers, and the overseas shipment of the construction materials were being coordinated.

The first problem came at this moment, when the final design layouts were delivered by Chinese engineers. Costa Rican engineers found that the original designers of the stadium did the design with the Chinese culture in mind, and not the occidental one. For example, the stadium did not include ticket offices, didn´t have access control zones, press rooms or preferential zones in the stadium. Costa rican engineers had to make those changes.

The execution phase officially started on March 12^th 2009 when Costa Rica´s president at the moment, Dr. Oscar Arias, set the first stone in place. Anhui Foreign Economic Construction was the company in charge of this project now on. The estimated build up time was 23 months.

The project deliverables and characteristics were:

Stadium capacity: 35062 seated people.
Roofed East and West grandstands.
Uncovered South and North grandstands.
Natural grass field
Two giant HD screens
Athletism track
Main dressing rooms
29 Offices for national sports federations
Meeting rooms
Ping pong rooms
Chess rooms
Rooms for Stores
Emergency Rooms
Warm-up athletism track
Closed Circuit TV
Complete lighting system
Complete audio system
Fire extinction system
Complete electrical system with backup
Restrooms
VIP Rooms
Ballroom
Press room
Hall
Other purposes rooms
Hotel for 260 people

To achieve all these, the total estimated budget was $ 88 million.

The construction area was 34 120 squared meters.

The construction phase continued very intensively for the months to come,

with double shifts and even triple shifts of 8 hours. Restless Chinese construction workers performed very efficiently and in a very fast pace. The result of this reflected in the delivery date, on January 10^th Chinese government did the official delivery of the stadium to Costa Rica´s government; being one month ahead of the planned delivery date.Not everything could be that good, and the official entities stated that the final cost was around $100 million.

The O&M cost is foreseen to be around $1,8 million per year now in charge of Costa Rican public administration.

The official inauguration occurred on March 26^th, 2011 and included several multicultural performances, music concerts and a series of soccer games between Costa Rica´s national team versus China and Argentina.

Analyzing this project we see that it was performed ahead of time, within requirements but with an over-cost of its original budget, although not so far apart from it. It was a very complex project basically because of the import of material and resources with different culture and language to the country. Also the architecture of the stadium, specially the roof was difficult task.

The risks were relatively high because the construction was settled in a country that construction workers didn’t know very well, it is highly sismic with a very strong rainy season, which demanded mitigation plans.

Comentarios desactivados en Costa Rica´s New National Stadium / 18 Ene 2012 por Ricardo Garro Ruiz
MERME /

THE CITY OF CULTURE, Santiago de Compostela

Once we were proposed for doing this blog, from the first moment I stopped to think about some project made in my homeland which was remarkable and interesting. It didn’t take me long to reach my goal, as there is one which have been incredibly commeted and questioned: “A Cidade da Cultura de Galicia” (The Galicia’s City of Culture), an architectural complex devoted (once it will be finished) to the contemporary knowledge and creativity. It is situated on the summit of the mount Gaiás, on the outskirts of the city Santiago de Compostela (Galicia’s capital). This is because during my last year in the University, I had the opportunity to visit it, awaking myself the curiosity to go into the subject in depth.

It has been designed by the American architect Peter Eisenman, internationally known due to so relevant architectural works such as the Holocaust Memorial in Berlín. He was designated after winning the International Architecture Competition announced by The Xunta de Galicia in 1999. The reasons for the award were referenced in its “unique both in concept and plasticity, and exceptionally in tune with the site’s location” (this is known as the “architecture code”: “The result is an undulating landscape, generated by Eisenman superimposing the ground plan of the medieval city of Santiago on to the striated ripples of the pilgrims’ scallop shell, composing an expressionist yet pleasant scenery that blends gently into the terrain, extending the deep clefts of the streets into placid promenades towards the parking space by the highway and towards the distant skyline of the Cathedral”).

Initially defined as a new wonder of the world, it is now considered the ultimate symbol of the excesses of the Spanish economic bubble, and the last “dream” during his presidency in the Galician regional goverment (Xunta de Galicia) of the recently deceased Mr. Manuel Fraga.

This feature was attributed for solid reasons, because while the initial objectives of the work were those of a complex of 60.000 square meters, at a cost of 108,2 million € and 12 quarters of work; twelve years later, it occupies 148.000 square meters, has cost 400 million € of the autonomous budgets and generated endless debate among political parties (there has been two changes of goverment during its construction, with huge discrepancies and diferent thoughts between them, which involved changes in the scope and uses of the buildings, incurring inexorably increases in the budget initially ascribed).

To all this, it must be added the fact that we are talking about a project without being completed in a 100%. After twelve years of construction, only two of the six buildings which make up the project (Obradoiro and Library) have been opened to the public in January 2011.

Although as I have explained so far, it is clear that, nowadays, the project stands out more for its mistakes (as the economic as the construction point of view) than its succeses, there are current of opinions which support the project, settling their arguments into thinking that it will be the time that will show us if actually the City of Culture has been a project entirely unbalanced and exaggerated to a little autonomous region like Galicia, or conversely, its beauty and incredible architecture, led to an influx people to the city, and therefore a greater increase in tourism, making this much-criticized project into a profitable project, from the economic point of view.

So, to conclude, I would like to share with you a personal conversation that I had with a friend discussing about this, and which made me think differently about this project. He is currently finishing his degree in architecture, and being myself an engineer, we all know the typical discrepancies between them, usually opting for the practical the engineer, and the architect for the aesthetic.

He argued in defense of the City of Culture that, probably, when the Cathedral of Santiago took place, this work was also too excessive for its time and place, and however, we see how it has become a place of pilgrimage for thousands of people from around the world as for religious as adventure reasons, one question showed out: why couldn’t it happen the same with the City of Culture? (for cultural, architectural, etc. reasons).This means, let’s support it, show it worldwide, and perhaps someday it will become “the second Cathedral of Santiago”. So, following the example, I have been there, and I would say that for those who love the nature, construction and architecture, and are culturally restless, if you have tha chance to go….don’t doubt it and VISIT IT!!

Resources:

Explanation of the work by the architect (Peter Eisenman):

1.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dHZ-Zy9l5w&feature=player_embedded

2.- http://vimeo.com/13853381

Panoramic view, sequencing the construction: http://www.cidadedacultura.org/articulos/leer.aspx?id=53

3.- Extreme Engineering documentary:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8xTzZUogD4&feature=player_embedded

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uoIX5t_3UU&feature=player_embedded

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR_RxZjlVyc&feature=player_embedded

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw2o9uNVyts&feature=player_embedded

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB9t-sYrMpQ&feature=player_embedded

Opinion Article (La Vanguardia, Anxo Lugilde): http://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20110111/54099528131/la-ciudad-de-la-cultura-de-santiago-abre-hoy-sin-saber-para-que-se-hizo.html

Opinion Article (El Pais, Daniel Salgado): http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Ciudad/Cultura/excesos/elpepicul/20110108elpepicul_1/Tes

Comentarios desactivados en THE CITY OF CULTURE, Santiago de Compostela / 18 Ene 2012 por Alfonso Medal Rendal
MERME /

GEMASOLAR: Desarrollo y Construcción

En el sur de España (Sevilla) se encuentra lo que hoy es considerado como una gran joya en el mundo de las energías renovables, GEMASOLAR.

Se trata de la primera planta solar termoeléctrica tipo torre que consta con un sistema de almacenamiento térmico y tiene la capacidad de inyectar a la red eléctrica energía aun cuando ésta no tenga captación del sol en el momento del despacho de energía.

GEMASOLAR en cifras:

Altura de la torre: 140 m
Área reflectante total: 304.750 m²
Superficie del campo solar: 185 Ha
Potencia nominal de la turbina: 19,9 MWe
Capacidad de utilización: 75%
Número de heliostatos: 2.650
Potencia térmica receptor: 120 MWt
Capacidad de almacenamiento térmico: 15 h
Generación anual de electricidad: 110 GWh
Ahorro de emisión de CO2: 30.000 t/año

La primera planta a nivel comercial pertenece a la compañía Torresol Energy, que fue fundada para desarrollar la tecnología, la construcción y mantenimiento de grandes centrales de concentración solar (CSP). Actualmente, Torresol Energy se encuentra en el desarrollo, operación y mantenimiento de este tipo de centrales en regiones de Europa, Medio Oriente, Norte de África, Estados Unidos y España.

GEMASOLAR, fue posible a dos importantes socios: SENER y Masdar. SENER es un grupo de ingeniería y tecnología español, responsable del diseño y desarrollo de toda la tecnología aplicada a la planta, y MASDAR es una empresa de Abu Dabi dedicada a impulsar el desarrollo de las energías renovables.

Por ser una planta con dimensiones excepcionales y características especiales, GEMASOLAR fue todo un reto en todos los aspectos.

La localidad donde se encuentra GEMASOLAR, es una de las más adecuadas en toda Europa. Fuentes de Andalucía se encuentra en el cinturón solar, por lo que proporciona las condiciones mas optimas para el desarrollo y producción de energía solar.

Fase de construcción

Enero 2009

Torre: levantamiento de la torre de 140 m.
Heliostatos: instalación de 2.650 heliostatos con un sistema de seguimiento de doble eje de rotación y área reflectante de 110 m²
Tanques de almacenamiento: instalación de 2 tanques de sales frías y calientes sobre base de arlita. Construido con material aislante, resistente a altas temperatura y nivel de almacenamiento hasta 800 MWh de energía.

Junio 2010

Receptor de torre: intercambiador de calor ubicado encima de la torre con aleación de materiales capaces de soportar 900°C.
Tuberías de la torre: instalación de tuberías dentro de la torre por donde circulara las sales fundidas y que a su vez funcionan como sistema de almacenamiento de energía.
Bombas de sales: instalación de bombas que elevaran las sales a una altura de 140 m y conservando una temperatura de 290°C.
Intercambiador de calor: instalación de sistemas de intercambiadores de calor entre los tanques de sales frías y calientes. Se compone de un complejo sistema de tuberías.
Turbina y condensador: instalación de turbina Siemens SST-60.
Edificio eléctrico: construcción del edificio eléctrico donde alberga la sala de control del sistema turbogenerador, el campo de heliostatos, el generador de vapor y el almacenamiento térmico.

Noviembre 2010

Fusión de sales: elemento empleado como fluido de transferencia de calor y almacenamiento térmico. Es instalado en los dos tanques de almacenamiento térmico.

Abril 2010

Sincronización de la turbina: puesta en marcha de la central y acoplamiento de la misma al sistema eléctrico.

Hitos en el desarrollo y de GEMASOLAR

Sales fundidas

Inicio de la fase de investigación en el 2004 sobre el sistema de almacenamiento comprendido de sales fundidas en una planta piloto en la Plataforma Solar de Almería.

Receptor central de torre

El desarrollo y fabricación en España del receptor de sales fundidas, desarrollado por SENER y CIEMAT, contando el CIEMAT con el 35% de los derechos de autor. Cabe señalar que el prototipo de este receptor fue ensayado en la Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) por un periódo de 4 años, donde se le estuvo haciendo mejoras y validando el diseño que hoy conocemos.

Heliostatos

Desarrollo por parte de SENER de un mecanismo de dos ejes para conseguir más precisión en la captación de radiación solar.

Sistemas de control

Desarrollo y diseño de un sistema de control que maximice el rendimiento de la planta. Se desarrollaran sistemas que sean capaces de analizar temperaturas, presión o velocidad del fluido de sales en las tuberías y la proyección de los receptores solares.

Esta gran novedad y joya actual de la energía solar, representara el gran futuro prometedor en las energías renovables. Con una inversión de 250 millones de euros, GEMASOLAR se convierte en el modelo y propulsora a nivel mundial de la tecnología de receptor solar. Cabe destacar que el factor de almacenamiento de hasta 15 horas sin radiación solar, convierten a GEMASOLAR única en el mundo actual.

Pinche aquí para ver el vídeo

“Concentra todos tus pensamientos en el trabajo que estás haciendo. Los rayos de sol no queman hasta que se concentran en un punto.” – Alexander Graham Bell

Comentarios desactivados en GEMASOLAR: Desarrollo y Construcción / 18 Ene 2012 por Luis Armando Pagan Quinones
MERME /

The “Art” of Managing a Project: “La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias”

The City of Arts and Sciences is the architectural complex designed by Santiago Calatrava in Valencia (Spain). The buildings that comprise it are, in order of opening:

Hemisfèric: film screening room IMAX, planetarium and laser. It has an approximate area of 13,000 m².
The Science Museum Principe Felipe: it is an interactive science museum. It occupies about 40,000 m² spread over three floors.
Umbracle: walk landscaped with native plant species of Valencia, covered by floating arches where you can see the whole complex of the City of Arts and Sciences.
The Oceanography: Oceanographic aquarium is the largest in Europe with 110,000 square meters and 42 million liters of water.
Palace of Arts Reina Sofia: Exhibition hall. It is dedicated to music and the performing arts.
The Puente de l’Assut de l’Or: which connects the south with the street round Menorca, whose pylon of 125 meters is the highest point of the city.
The Agora: a covered plaza where concerts and sports events, for example, the new Grand Prix of Valencia Tennis

The “CAC” has changed Valencia’s image worldwide, but all is not gold that glitters …
This project builds an extra 625 million euros, more than four times the initial budget. In total, the Valencian Government has been spent on this monumental complex about 1,282 million euros, that would cost 308 million euros.
The rulers of the C. Valencia justify the expense because the economic impact of over 2,000 million complex and has been visited by 40.
The initial project: a communication tower of 85 million euros, the Museum of Science, 61 million euros and the Hemispheric EUR 18 million. All the result of the signature of the architect Santiago Calatrava.

Buildings planned but not carried out:
Las Torres de Calatrava, were part of a project that at first (2004) consisted of four skyscrapers building 280, 260, 240 and 220 meters. Later, the project was reduced to three skyscrapers 308 m, 266 m and 220 m, called Valencia, Castellón and Alicante. The cost of construction of buildings amounted to 450 million, which halted the initiative.

With the contracted works and the foundations of the tower built, a new government came to power in the Generalitat de Valencia and soon stopped the project. After four months of controversy, the government decided to resume the project by Santiago Calatrava, but not the communications tower, which would place a large water fountain labeled “the splash” by some media. Finally, after the debate was canceled.

The redefinition of the complex added the art to science to form the City of Arts and Sciences (La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias), which held two of the initially planned buildings (the science museum and planetarium), the tower was replaced by a palace opera and added a new element, l’Oceanogràfic. After two years standing, work was resumed in 1997. On October 8, 2005 the whole work was completed with the opening of the Palace of Arts Reina Sofia.

So while the rulers kid themselves with the revenue received in the future (which nobody disputes), the image it brings to the city of Valencia, Valencia laopción for … this is an example of the art waste of money exceeding the initial budget and time, surpassing by more than 2 years the most optimistic forecasts.