The other oil of the Canary Islands

By Manuel García The first tremors of the El Hierro eruption began on July 19, 2011. At the end of September of that year, the residents of Frontera were evicted. And at the end of the following month, October, the Island received the ...

July 14 2012 (20:13 WEST)
By Manuel García
The first tremors of the El Hierro eruption began on July 19, 2011. At the end of September of that year, the residents of Frontera were evicted. And at the end of the following month, October, the Island received the ...

The first tremors of the El Hierro eruption began on July 19, 2011. At the end of September of that year, the residents of Frontera were evicted. And at the end of the following month, October, the oceanographic vessel Ramón Margalef arrived on the Island. The criticisms of the volcanologist Juan Carlos Carracedo were not surprising;

Unfortunately, a month after the start of the eruptive process, the first underwater images were obtained thanks to a robotic camera that the ship had. Important data on the beginning of these phenomena were lost.

One of the most classic scams is the pyramid scheme. In short, the real estate bubble corresponds to this type of scam. Thanks to the artificial overprices paid by the last ones to receive the asset, the pyramid was sustained. Until it fell and bankrupted these final investors. Technologies also have their optimal exploitation cycle. If we buy a mobile phone that sells us the sending of sms as a novelty, and soon after another model comes out with the possibility of surfing the Internet, we will logically feel cheated.

At this moment, in Spezia (Italy), the famous SAUC-E competition is being developed. It consists of the design of autonomous underwater robots that can perform missions in real conditions. There we have a group of engineering students from the ULPGC, the AVORA team, competing with the best universities from countries such as France, Canada and Germany. You never know, but this well-managed innovation can be a sustainable business opportunity with enormous possibilities for the Islands.

Let's go to the oil. Taking into account what happened in El Hierro, and in the event of an accident in Repsol's explorations in the Canary Islands, how long would it take to have underwater images of the accident in order to act? Furthermore, valuing the incessant advances in the efficiency of renewable energies (a few days ago the Solar Impulse plane flew from Rabat to Madrid without refueling a drop of fuel), won't we be the last to risk for a declining energy like oil?

As his stay was very ephemeral at the last congress of the Popular Party in the Arrecife Gran Hotel, surely Minister Soria did not have time to explain these issues to society... Nor will he tell us that the real oil to bet on is that of knowledge.

Most read