Last year the provincial government announced the Renewable Energies Program for Rural Sectors and started to placed solar panels on schools. We told you about it here.

Today in Corrientes 75 out of 85 rural schools already have solar energy that is used to power lights, fans, televisions, computers and other equipment.

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The building has been named after Cérifo, the Greek god of the winds because it can get power form the sea wind thanks to a windmill placed on the flat roof. The turbine can generate 4,5 kilowatts of wind power, more than enough to cover the needs of the share spaces.

Besides the wind generator, the tower makes the most of the sunlight, because 80% of the facade is pure glass. The building also has intelligent lights that automatically turn off  when they aren’t needed.

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The construction of  31 offshore wind farms, to be ready by the year 2012, is not being totally accepted by Spaniards.

People from Cadiz, Galicia and Tarragona, Spain, are not very comfortable with the project. The objection: offshore wind farms may spoil the view.

Certainly big wind turbines make the landscape uglier, not only in the mountains but also in the sea, at least if they are not well planned.

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“Very good night, here we are at Las Lomitas, on a radio of Mocase Via Campesina. This is our first time on air, our name is Paj Sachada, which means mount flight and we are running on solar power.”

This is the opening message of the radio station Paj Sachada and it was broadcasted by Margarita, who is only 17 years old.

This station is located on Las Lomitas, a remote spot in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. Because electrical power does not reach this place, the local people are using solar power to feed the radio station.

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“We have the obligation to lead the renewable energies development here in Chile. Currently we own 50 percent of the electric market and we want to keep this number also for the renewable energies,” said Rafel Mateo, the Chilean manager from Endesa. Endesa Chile, an Endesa Spain subsidiary, will invest 40 million dollars in the first solar power plant in Chile.

The chosen location for the plant is the northern part of Chile, possibly Tarapacá or Antofagasta. The northside of Chile is warm and desert, with sunlight almost all year long. Those attributes make the place ideal for a solar energy plant.

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Argentina will produce massive wind power turbines. This country of South America is using some of the biggest generators with de Eolis-15, that has 1,5 megawatts of power and almost 80 meters tall.

Río Negro and Neuquén, two of the southeast provinces in Argentina, along with the Science and Technology Department from Cutral-Có and Plaza Huincul-both municipalities with oil royalties- have joined each other to develop the wind turbine Eolis-15, designed by Invap to make the most of high speed winds.

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Several months ago we told you that the Argentinean government was helping the rural zones with their power problems by installing solar energy. That time we are talking about solar energy kitchens for schools in Jujuy. Currently the government is installing solar cells in the province of Catamarca to empower schools, homes and public dependences.

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This time we will visit the second largest natural reserve of the American continent, a jungle known as Selva Misionera or Paranaense (also called Mata Atlántica in Brazil, and Atlantic Forest in english). This jungle has an enormous biological diversity, with more than 2000 floral species, 150 vegetal species per hectare, 400 bird species and a great variety of mammals, reptiles and insects.

Only one hundred years ago, the jungle enlarged over a million square kilometers covering different lands of the Paraguayan , Brazilian and Argentinean territory.

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In Argentina one of the main factors that puts wild birds in danger is unrestricted hunting. Most Provincial Governments don’t put a limit on this. When a limit is set, there is no control over its observance.

One of the most beautiful and more threatened species is the cauquenes or kaikenes (Ruddy-headed Goose or Magellan Goose), similar in aspect to the goose.

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Glaciers are melting. It’s a fact. In terms of global warming, the guilt rests with us. We already saw how many of Switzerland’s glaciers are disappearing. Unfortunately, they are not alone.

Pedro Skvarca, glaciologist from Argentina in Antarctica, witnessed the progressive retreating of glaciers from the White Continent in the last ten years.

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During the next months, engineers will install the solar cells provided by a Spanish firm in each school. In time, the school’s directors will have to take responsibility for the solar system.

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They are planning to build five hydroelectric dams and a high tension line that will be the largest in the world. It will cross Chile from south to north and thus divide it in two.

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To avoid the growing car cemeteries, the government of Buenos Aires has decided to eradicate these prejudicial elements to the environment. How? They plan on compacting the cars and waste in a programmed way. Newspaper Perfil, informed readers that at the beginning 60.000 vehicles will be stripped of batteries, fluids and other components that threaten the environment.

The government plans to do a technical verification, a decontamination and compact whats leftover. The process will use software exclusively created by the University of La Plata to define the cars condition. If the car is in good condition, it will be fixed and later used by a government facility; however, if the car is inevitably broken, then it will be stripped, using a protocol elaborated by University of La Plata. This program explains what needs to be extracted and where it will be stored.

This kind of story brings joy to my heart, especially after my trip to Patagonia. It’s comforting to know some people in Argentina are working towards a better world.

Image: Flickr

I drove through route 3. It runs across Argentina from north to south, next to the Atlantic coast. Here you can see a beautiful landscape, steppe to one side and deep blue ocean to the other.

Patagonia: it’s a land of dinosaurs, oil and strong winds. The latter is responsible for a horrifying realization–how dirty it is! The last time I visited Patagonia was six years ago, and I didn’t see the mass amount of plastic bags everywhere.

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The first eco-place, will be the National Park Los Alerces in Argentina. You can find it at Chubut province, in the Argentinian Patagonia. It has some of the most beautiful biodiversity in the world, with a wide and rare vegetable variety.

Six lakes are nestled in there. The Lake Futalaufquen, flows to Lake Verde and Menéndez by the Arrayanes river, and Lake Verde flows to Lake Rivadavia by the deep green Rivadavia river.

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