System Dynamics Simulation for the Growing Use of Biodiesel in World Heritage Zones: The Case of the Galapagos Islands

The World Heritage Zones composed of tourists and permanent residents have the common need to protect the environment and to supply energy for electricity. The environmental, technological, and economic feasibility to transform waste into biofuels to provide energy with internal combustion engines has been demonstrated in several earlier pieces of research. A diffusion and adoption model to replace fossil fuels with biodiesel is proposed by utilizing System Dynamics simulations. This study uses the case of the Galapagos Islands as a reference and aims to depict the variables, values, and conditions under which alternative fuels can be considered a sustainable, affordable, and applicable solution. The purpose is to develop a dynamic system in which the current population and that expected to grow can adopt biodiesel as the main and only available fuel to reduce the environmental impact in vulnerable zones, like those declared as World Heritage. The existing facilities for the energy supply—such as internal combustion engines—can be better exploited instead of introducing new technologies that claim to be zero-carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and which possible collateral environmental impact in the near future is not yet fully known, while the waste is reused instead of being accumulated or awaiting decomposition.