Gas Natural Fenosa - Corporate

There is a general consensus in society on the impact that carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have on climate change and the need to considerably reduce those levels. It is estimated that since the start of the industrial revolution in around 1750, there has been a 30% increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

At present, the transport sector is 95% dependent on oil and the effects of this almost total dependency on fossil fuel are twofold: it leads to an unfavourable energy balance in countries with few or no oil resources, and polluting emissions which are hard to control, above all, CO2, the main cause of climate change. There are a number of initiatives for lessening both of these effects, both within the field of energy efficiency, with improvements to combustion engine consumption, and the introduction of renewable energy through the use of biofuels.

The wide availability of the sun's energy and regulations that favour the development and implementation of renewable energies have led to the development of a variety of solutions for making use of solar power over the last decade.

The Trillo Nuclear Power Station in Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha supplies an average of 8,000 million kWh per year to the whole of Spain. The mission of the power plant is to produce safe, reliable, cheap electricity which is environmentally friendly, and to guarantee this power production in the long term through optimal use of the installations. In this way, it helps to improve quality of life and social well-being.

The accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) has not stopped growing over the past century, due primarily to human activity and, as a result, the global temperature is increasing, which, should it become worse, could pose a real threat to the future of mankind. To reverse this situation, Gas Natural Fenosa has started up two projects in Brazil as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), among the actions derived from the application of the Kyoto Protocol, to help reduce total emissions and care for the environment.

Gas Natural Fenosa, as part of its commitment to preserving the environment, continues to promote energy efficiency as an essential tool for proper use of resources and as one of the pillars for mitigating climate change. As natural gas is a fossil fuel, the company has promoted different actions to encourage a more efficient use of this energy.

The demand for gas around the world has not stopped growing in recent years and, according to all estimates, it will continue to grow in the coming years. In addition, the performance of the gas markets will vary in the future, due in large part to the irregularity of electricity demand (generated largely in combined cycle plants from gas) and the spikes in gas demand caused by cold periods. Due to these irregularities, the European Union recommends that member states establish a certain gas storage capacity, to be able to overcome these irregularities, as well as possible procurement problems. In short, underground gas storage is an important logistics management tool in the gas system.

The renewable energy sources that exist today (wind and hydroelectric especially) cannot properly meet the demand for energy, so it is necessary to create policies that encourage a more rational use of fossil fuels and energy efficiency. The objective is to produce electricity efficiently and to consume that energy effectively. That is why cogeneration can play a decisive role, and La Energía, S.A. is the Gas Natural Fenosa company specialising in cogeneration projects, a technology with high overall performance in energy transformation.

Deregulation of the electricity market, together with the growing commitment to the environment, have led to the development of new generation techniques that involve lower investment costs and, at the same time, are cleaner. To this end, combined cycle power plant technology has been developed. Today, compared to traditional systems, this is the most efficient and cleanest system for producing electricity using fossil fuels.