Lanzarote: el papel de la crisis - Fundación César Manrique

at the same time that oil imports are decreased? What would be the repercussions for Lanzarote
of a possible crisis in oil prices and supplies? Clearly, Lanzarote will not be immune to what may
happen in the future to energy derived from oil (and even from gas). On this will depend the to
be or not to be of the island of Lanzarote as we know it today.
Given the limited resources of oil and gas and the present high consumption rates (which will
rise as more countries reach a higher level of conventional development), it may be stated
without hesitation that the decade of the year 2010 to the year 2020 will mark the
commencement of the final phase of these fuels. The first symptoms will be considerable rises
in prices and all manner of political turmoil, leading to the onset of a period of ever-greater
scarcity.
For Lanzarote, the repercussions will be far from negligible on account of the major role
played by fuels in the full spectrum of the island’s activities. Not only would prices of goods
and services (including water) increase but, more seriously, the cost of transport for tourists
coming to the island would also rise, meaning in practical terms that Lanzarote would
progressively become further removed from the continent of Europe. This would, in the main,
affect the present model of mass, short-stay tourism, where the transport factor accounts
for over 40 p.c. of the total tourism package.
Bearing in mind the evolution of the population of Europe (the progressive ageing process)
and new work habits and requirements (more free time, shorter working life, the possibility
of working from anywhere in the world, etc.), the most adequate response to this presumed
energy crisis could consist of endowing Lanzarote with a new model of tourism. The model
would be based on the island’s own energy resources so as to cut back the energy costs of
the goods and services produced there and on longer average stays on the part of the visitor
so as to reduce the cost of transport in the total package.
From the point of view of energy, this entails the intensive use of energy resources derived
mainly from the sun and the wind and the widespread introduction of energy-saving systems
in all possible applications.
The intensive use of solar, photovoltaic and thermal energy would lessen considerably the
dependence on oil for lighting, refrigeration and the heating of water, while the large-scale
use of wind energy could mean that the total supply of the entire island’s drinking water
would be supplied without having resort to oil, not forgetting the growing possibility of
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