The world is experiencing a silent but profound change. It is not a visible revolution or an isolated technological leap: it is a structural transformation that is redefining the global economy. This transformation is called new energy.
It is no longer just about solar panels or electric cars, but about a paradigm shift: how energy is produced, distributed and consumed. A reconfiguration that moves capital, redraws geopolitical alliances and sets the course for countries that understand that the future no longer belongs to oil, but to electrons.
For a century, oil was the center of gravity of world power. Wars, economies and political decisions moved to the rhythm of the price of the barrel. But that era is coming to an end.
In the last decade, solar panels have reduced their cost by more than 80%, and electric batteries today cost a tenth of what they did fifteen years ago. Green hydrogen, which was recently a laboratory experiment, is already an expanding industry: Germany, Japan and Chile are investing billions of dollars to produce it on a large scale.
The change is not future: it is present. Clean energy already represents more than 30% of global generation, and international organizations estimate that it will exceed 50% before 2040.
Controlling energy means controlling destiny. Countries that depend on importing gas or fossil fuels are subject to international volatility; Those who generate their own clean energy, on the other hand, gain independence, competitiveness and stability.
South Korea, Norway and Chile understood that equation. Today they not only reduce emissions, but create jobs, attract investment and strengthen their energy sovereignty. Mexico could join that list if it takes advantage of its natural and human advantages.
Mexico: a country with sun, wind and talent
Few countries in the world meet the conditions that Mexico has. It has some of the highest levels of solar radiation on the planet, coasts with stable winds, a robust electrical system and a privileged geographical position between the two largest consumers in the hemisphere: the United States and Canada.
But its greatest asset is not in the underground or in the sky: it is in its people. Mexican talent can transform rural communities into energy generators, industrial parks into clean manufacturing hubs, and universities into technological innovation centers.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy transition could generate more than 14 million new jobs worldwide before 2030, many of them in emerging economies. Mexico has everything to capture a significant part of that growth.
While Europe digitizes its networks and Asia builds offshore wind farms, Latin America has an unexpected advantage: it can skip stages. Just as the region went directly from the landline to the cell phone, it can go from the fossil model to the clean model without repeating the mistakes of polluting industrialization.
The challenge is institutional and cultural: design stable energy policies, promote responsible private investment and connect the educational system with new technological industries. The energy transition is not achieved with infrastructure alone: it is achieved with vision.
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More than a transition, a change of mentality
For decades, energy was conceived as something distant, produced by a few and consumed by millions. Today the trend is reversed. Each citizen, company or community can be an energy producer, store it, share it and sell it.
The model is decentralized. Energy becomes collaborative, digital and close. This transforms not only the economy, but also culture: the citizen stops being a consumer and becomes an actor of change.
Energy leadership does not depend on the size of the country, but on its ability to anticipate. Mexico has the talent, location and natural resources to become the epicenter of clean energy in North America.
Nearshoring, which today drives the arrival of new factories, can be the perfect vehicle for this transformation if it is integrated with green infrastructure and smart networks. Each company that operates with clean energy multiplies its value and positions the country in the economy of the future.
The figures are clear. According to BloombergNEF, in 2023 global investment in clean energy exceeded $1.7 trillion for the first time, more than everything allocated to fossil fuels. Countries that do not adapt in time will not only lose competitiveness: they will pay an environmental and social cost that they will no longer be able to reverse.
Mexico has before it a historic opportunity to lead the energy transition in Latin America, combining innovation, sustainability and sovereignty. But it needs to be done with planning, public-private collaboration and a long-term vision.
The new luxury: energy, time and purpose
In the new economy, luxury is no longer about accumulating things, but about living with time, health and purpose. Clean energy embodies that philosophy: produce more, but better; grow without destroying; move forward without mortgaging the future.
Let’s imagine a country where electric cars are charged with solar energy, homes generate part of their consumption and companies export products made with clean electricity. That country could be Mexico.
The real question is not whether the energy wave will come, but whether Mexico will decide to surf it or let it pass. The future belongs to those who act before change reaches them. Because the energy that transforms the world does not come from underground, but from the people who dare to create the future. And Mexico, more than resources, has the most important thing: people with the energy to make it possible.
The author is a Mexican business architect focused on energy, innovation and industrial development. With experience in energy transition, nearshoring and clean manufacturing, he promotes initiatives that integrate technology, sustainability and competitiveness for North America. Collaborate with business and academic ecosystems to accelerate the adoption of green infrastructure, smart grids and productivity models based on clean energy.
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