Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - While Mexico produces and exports solar panels and photo voltaic cells, the country has not previously explored using solar energy, a form of alternative energy, to generate electricity at home. However, this will soon be changing.

In light of depleting oil reserves, talk of solar energy in Mexico is heating up, as the nation examines the potential for drawing energy from the sun. According to National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the government will fund a project aimed at estimating Mexico’s potential for using solar energy, to see if the sun can fulfill its growing energy demands.

To carry out the research, personnel from UNAM will calibrate solar sensors installed at the Mexican meteorological service's 133 automated weather-monitoring stations.

According to UNAM researcher Mauro German Valdes, setting the sensors to the same specifications will make it possible to recalculate the last decade's worth of readings from the stations, thereby creating a central database.

"We will have systematized information from different parts of the country that will be useful for industry, physicists, architects and biologists, among others," Valdes said.