TWC lesson 8

Summary

Energy and world change. Past present future.

The next industrial revolution will be when we shift our current fossil fuel based, energy intensive economy to an environmentally sound and sustainable clean and green approach. We were shown a video on new ideas and old ideas, and that if we follow the same direction that we have been following in the past our environment will not sustain. We need to follow new directions for a totally different new economy.

Drivers of change for energy consumption.

•  Rising energy consumption and need for economic development. Developed countries have did very well with fossil fuels, however China and other developing countries cannot follow such fossil fuel consumption patterns. These developed countries have jeopardized the environment greatly in the process. Furthermore, there is not enough fossil fuels for everyone to consume at the same rate as an average Singapore or U.S. citizen. We will have to find new ways to allow such developing countries to achieve such growth without compromising the environment. 

•  There is a need for sustainability. With the rising cost of fossil fuel, there is a need for new and more sustainable energy sources to replace fossil fuels. Years ago when fossil fuels weren’t discovered in Brazil yet, they used agriculture to make alcohol as another source of energy. Now, they are able to produce the cheapest alcohol in the world out of sugar cane.

•   New technologies and approaches. Europe has enforced fluorescent light bulbs and banned the conventional light bulbs as fluorescent bulbs are more energy efficient.

• Cost is another driver. Fossil fuel takes millions of years to make. Its externalities can actually be the most expensive fuel we are burning. The extra cost is not taken into account and we are burning such fossil fuels instead of using them to make useful products like plastics and stuff.

We then moved on to the different considerations in energy and world change. The more notable one is energy security and energy as a source of income. The diagram shown to us next shows us that most of the energy come from the sun with exception to geothermal and nuclear energy. Next, we are shown diagrams that show us the percentage of different types of energy we are consuming. We were then shown two separate tables that contain shocking facts. The first one tells us that the sun actually provides more than 7000 times the energy we consume yearly, and that the sun actually provides more energy to us in an hour than mankind can use in a year. The second one tells us how much energy one kilometre square of land can generate. It was shocking how much more wind and solar energy can be generated as compared to Biomass methods. It gets one thinking why people are still investing in planting sugarcanes or palm trees for energy when you can get so much more from solar or wind energy. We were then shown 2 videos, one on how Europe aims to achieve 20% renewable energy by 2020 and another on solar power plants in Africa.

Interesting keypoints and observations.

The diagram that shows how much solar energy provides to earth was mind blogging. The sun provides more energy in one hour than the human kind currently use in a year. Such statistics really makes me wonder why countries are not pooling resources to develop an efficient and cheap way of obtaining solar energy. Sunlight is free, and the sun would not burn out for another few billion of years. If we could somehow efficiently tap into this source of energy, wouldn’t that greatly help improve our sustainability? We using solar energy to develop, and the usage of such solar energy does not deny future generations of equal opportunities to tap on this solar energy. Furthermore, solar energy is a clean source of energy and does not create pollution as compared to the burning of fossil fuels.

I believe there is a need for countries dependant on fossil fuels as their main source of income to diversify and move on into profiting from other industries. In the Middle East, countries like Nigeria and Oman are very dependent on the sale of fossil fuels as their main source of income. As prof mentioned, 98% of Nigeria’s economy is dependent on petroleum. There is a global movement of developed countries moving into cleaner and renewable sources of energy, like solar and wind energy. Alternatives for petroleum are being researched and it is possible that the world might become independent of fossil fuels in the future. Once that happen, such countries will lose their main source of income. Such would cause the divide between the rich and the poor to further widen.

On the presentation regarding Hempcrete, as beneficial as it sounds I believed there are still several downsides to this technology. The first and most important point is that it could mask the production of Marijuana. From the image below, it is frankly very hard to tell the differences between Hemp and Marijuana just by looking at it. Drug dealers could easily grow Marijuana among Hemp plantations and not be detected. Such could increase drug problems in the country. Furthermore, since hempcrete last for thousands of years as compared to normal concrete, wouldn’t that mean that hempcrete is extremely non-biodegradable? Such could add on to pollution problems. There is a need for careful considerations of the pros and cons of this technology before fully implementing it.

The top image shows Hemp plants while the bottom image show Marijuana plants.

Key takeaways

In order for us to achieve sustainable development, a transit from reliance on fossil fuels as energy sources to more renewable and cleaner sources of energy is needed. Solar energy from the sun, is readily available in many regions of the world and would be the ideal choice as the next main energy supplier. Other technologies such as wind, biomass and geothermal energy should also be invested in for a greater variety of sources for energy. If Germany, a country that does not get a lot of sunlight, could fare so well in utilising solar energy, it shows that solar energy will be viable in most parts of the world.

Issues for further discussion

Nuclear energy was brought up during this class. Nuclear energy is considered a clean form of energy, but I have actually read an article about the how the extraction of uranium is actually a very polluting process. It would be informative if everyone could discuss and be more informed on some of the unseen sides of the energy sources we regard to be clean and renewable.

Rating

I would give this class a 8/10. As always, it was mind-blowing and facts such as how much energy the sun provides in a year versus how much we use was very informative. The different perspectives of issues and the different technology presented by my fellow classmates helped me build a good knowledge of the current state of energy in the world.