Peak load clipping for greenhouse gas emission reduction in Managua, Nicaragua : the role of solar thermal water heaters and photovoltaic systems in households

n these days climate change and global warming have become topics of great importance. Global warming normally is a natural process that occurs on Earth throughout millions of years due to fluctuations in solar radiation, changes in the planet’s orbit and its inclination, which are also known as the Milankovitch Variations, but it is believed that human beings have also played a big role in the acceleration of this natural process by altering the composition of the atmosphere. One of the greatest causes of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gasses (GHG). The increased use of fossil fuels and reduction of sources that are able to absorb these gasses (plant life) have altered the composition of the atmosphere. An evident increase in the concentration of GHG has occurred since the Industrial Revolution, time at which massive amounts fossil fuels began to be used as a practical fuel source and deforestation started to take an important part of “development”: fossil fuel consumption increased, the demand for energy per capita began to quickly rise, greater sources were required to satisfy the growing energy needs, and forests began to disappear; either for fuel source, raw material, or simply to make way to grow crops and build cities. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important anthropologically emitted GHG. It consists of almost 80% of the total GHG emissions, making it one of the principal factors responsible for the increase in global temperature. The Electricity and Heat sector contributes with most CO2 emissions (32%), forming 24.6% of the total GHG emissions..