Viability of renewable energies and industrialization of rural areas using high-performance concrete

Abstract

In   the   Tropics,   the   two   biggest   sources   of renewable energy are the intermittent thermal solar and biomass, which   is   limited   by   the   occupation   of   large   areas.   High-performance  concrete  (HPC)  allows  construction  of  thermal solar  parabolic  collectors  (TSPC),  which  collect  70%  of  the incident radiation for preheating and evaporating feed water of a Rankine  thermoelectric  unit  whose  steam  is  superheated  in  a biomass-fired boiler. HPC also allows economical fabrication of stakes, planks to retain rainwater in soil level curves and U-, L-, I-  structural  profiles  to  construct  riparian  tanks  to  be  used  for grass   irrigation   during   the   dry   season   increasing   biomass production  up  to  60  tons  of  dry  biomass  per  hectare  per  year. Simultaneously   soil   and   fertilizer   are   recycled   recovering degraded   bare   hills   that   occupy   1/3   of   Brazilian   territory. Integration  of  thermal  solar  and  biomass  is  complemented  with the production of animal protein (cattle, free-range chicken, and fish);  anaerobic  digester  of  biomass  inoculated  with  animal deject  generates  biogas  that  is  washed  to  vehicular  methane  gas replacing fossil fuels.  Availability of energy (electrical, thermal, and  vehicular),  water  and  space  below  TSPC  area  promotes transference of urban industries to rural areas.