TWC Session 8

Today in Technology and World Change, the topic of discussion was energy and world change, taking account the past, present and future. The world at present is aiming to have a transition from fossil fuel based energy intensive economy to environmentally sound and sustainable clean and green approach. To reach this target, governments and people have to inculcate new habits and come out with new ideas and technologies.

An interesting point that was brought up during the session : "the sun provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than humankind currently uses in an entire year". considering there is some truth to this quote, i wonder why most countries are not focusing the majority of their resources on solar energy, finding ways to fully utilize or harness the energy. Some countries focus on nuclear energy, natural gas, while other focus on alternative renewable energy sources like biomass, wind and water. Perhaps a reason i can think of is that solar energy requires 2 conditions : abundance of sunlight and land. in the case of sunlight, Germany (shown in lesson) is seen to have invested a lot in solar energy and has got very positive outcome in the process. Other countries, especially countries in the tropics, should follow and example of Germany and their governments should also encourage the private use of solar panels. Next is land, the presenting technology requires a large amount of land to harness enough electricity to power a town or so. hopefully in due time, technology will enable the same surface area of panel to absorb a significantly larger amount of energy.

Governments play a huge role in achieving a clean, green environment. i have to agree with prof when he stated that the "biggest stumbling block is political will for a possible energy scenario of achieving close to 100% renewable energy by the year 2050". Governments are the driving force of a nation's economy and if they all put their focus to a green economy, a lot can be achieved. i lean more towards the role of governments than "it starts with you" campaigns. why? policy tools for facilitating change to a green economy is done by the government, and if done right, the results will be tremendous. Using Germany's solar energy as an example, the government used a combination of incentive, subsidies and education. The result was that even traditional farmers care thinking of using their land for energy purposes rather than just rearing and growing crops. Such an system should be implemented all over the countries!

The Fukushima accident was tragic. BUT it has also caused several countries to focus on alternative renewable energy sources and fully stop nuclear energy.  Though nuclear energy has significantly less pollution than coal / fossil fuels, the bottom-line is that there is still pollution. Countries like Germany and Scotland had decided to totally phase out nuclear and turn to alternative energy sources. Maybe the 'new' investments can lead to greater utilization of these renewable resources.

The key takeaway is the importance of renewable resources and non-pullution. Governments should focus more on renewable energy than on how to maximize the non-renewables.

Something else that can be discussed during this seminar is the possibly of moving technology of renewable resources into the private sector. Governments should, like everything else, provide patents and incentives for the private sector to invest in renewable resources. This will lead to a much rapid rate of development.

8/10

Jeremy! (: