Energy Sources, Industrialization, and Economic Systems
Energy Sources and Consumption
Currently, alternative energy sources account for only 14% of global energy consumption. The use of alternative energy has been hindered by technological and environmental difficulties.
Renewable Energy
Also called alternative or soft energy, this term encompasses a variety of energy sources that theoretically will not be exhausted over time. These sources would be an alternative to traditional sources and produce minimal environmental impact, although not all are strictly renewable, such as geothermal energy.
Forms of renewable energy include:
- Solar energy
- Wind energy
- Hydro energy
- Geothermal energy
- Biomass energy
Industrialization and Production
Industrial Specialization
This refers to the specialization of productive processes, intensifying research and economic resources devoted to a small number of products. Advantages include increased competitiveness, while disadvantages include the higher cost of manufacturing few products during an industrial crisis, often requiring reconversion. Example: Spain in 1973.
Energy Sources
These are resources that directly or indirectly produce mechanical work. They can be obtained from nature in various forms. Some may be used unlimitedly (renewable energies), while others are depleted over time (non-renewable energies).
Globalization and Economic Systems
Globalization
This is the interdependence of the world economy through trade development, the disappearance of customs barriers, the unification of production systems, and the facilitation of technology and capital transfer between countries.
Industrial Region
This is a landscape dominated by industrial activity, representing the upper stage of the landscape generated by industry, e.g., Catalonia and the Basque Country.
Assembly Line Work
This is a working method invented by Taylor in the U.S. in the early twentieth century, which increased worker productivity and decreased production costs. The negative aspect is the depersonalization and monotony of work.
Division of Labor
This method in production organization breaks down all the work necessary for manufacturing an object into a certain number of simple jobs, with each worker specializing in one task. It emphasizes mechanization and has spread in modern industries’ assembly lines.
Outsourcing
This is an economic process where the working population shifts from the primary sector and industry to the service sector. In Spain, it emerged in the last quarter of the twentieth century due to industrial restructuring, tourism development, and the universalization of public services like health and education.
Tourism
This is the movement or temporary displacement of the population from one place to another for recreation, with a minimum duration of one overnight stay, unlike a hiker who does not stay overnight. The term comes from the English word: tour = trip.
Production Methods
Craft Production
This involves manufacturing goods where the workforce makes a major contribution to the production process, and the presence of machinery is not significant because there is a greater concern for the artistic component of the product. This contrasts with mass production, which corresponds to the industrial production system.
Industrial Production
This involves manufacturing goods where the utilization of machinery and plant has a dominant role in the process, with the goal of maximizing productivity and rates of return.
Production in Series
This is the process followed in the manufacture of a high number of units of the same article.