Energy and World Change

This week, we talked about a topic that is very relevant to us, energy. Energy comes in many forms, from coal, oil and gas, which come from underground sources to wind, solar and biomass, which come from sources above the ground. These energy sources are classified as renewable and non-renewable, and as with other non-renewable resources discussed in previous lessons, we are fast running out of these resources. Therefore, we have to look towards switching to renewable energy sources in the near future in order to achieve sustainability.

One renewable energy source discussed in the lesson was solar energy. Basically, solar energy comes from the sun, and solar energy produces way more energy than other sources such as oil or wind. Solar provides 3,850,000 EJ of energy every year and the sun provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than the entire global population consumes in an entire year. However, we are still unable to fully capture this energy and utilize it. Germany currently has policies in place to encourage its people to install solar panels on the roofs of their houses and utilize solar energy. In order to encourage the people to do so, they have offered to buy this energy produced from the solar panels of the people for 50 cents per kw, and selling it back to them at a lower price of around 20 cents per kw. Although the initial costs of these solar panels may be high, in the long run, these people would be able to make a profit. Thus the Germans have all begun installing solar panels wherever possible. This includes large open spaces such as open fields, which could have been used for other purposes, such as farmland for crops. Instead, more Germans are now beginning to invest in ‘energy farming’. Prof asked if this would be feasible in Singapore, where the government puts in place similar policies to encourage people to start installing solar panels on their roofs. Personally I feel that the lack of land in Singapore may be a factor, and the amount of energy that can be harvested from solar energy may not be significant due to the lack of space to install solar panels. Also, most people live in high rise apartments and residents may not be able to stand to gain as much as these “profits” have to be split among many families in a single building. However, we should still work towards converting to renewable energy sources.

Another point that was brought up was that nations such as Dubai, which rely heavily on oil for their economy, are looking towards other sources to generate income for the economy. Having recently done an Leadership and Teambuilding (LTB) project on Sheikh Mohammed, I read that Dubai would run out of oil as soon as in 5 years time, which is a really short period of time. Hence, Sheikh Mohammed has focused on other industries to boost the economy, such as building more infrastructures such as the worlds most luxurious hotel, tallest building as well as the largest shopping mall in the world, in order to boost tourism in the country. Hence it can be seen that we can no longer rely on non-renewable resources like oil and have to look towards renewable sources in order to achieve sustainability.

The question of whether the world would be able to achieve 100% reliance on renewable resources for energy. I feel this may be possible, but it depends on how fast technology in capturing solar energy advances. If we are able to utilize even 20% of the sun’s energy, we would be able to possibly achieve this aim. However, presently Germany is only able to achieve about 20% reliance on renewable energy sources, and if I’m not wrong, is one of if not the highest in the world. However, not only the larger nations need to work towards making the switch to solar energy, but the smaller nations have to play their part too, even if the energy they use is much lesser, but nevertheless, still significant.

I would rate this lesson an 8.5/10, as it is very relevant to the world currently. However, we were unable to cover everything and go more in depth into the topic due to the lack of time in just 1 lesson. Hopefully, one day the world will be able to run completely on renewable sources of energy.

BioBusiness Revolution 2: Agriculture and the Environment: Past, Present, Future

This week’s lesson was a sequel to last week’s, which was on the biobusiness revolution. While last week’s lesson focused on the medical and healthcare industry, this week’s focused on agricultural biotechnology. Prof started the lesson with a quote of his own: “When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability”.

This is true in the sense that if we are able to constantly produce energy sources such as fuel and oil, we would no longer have to worry about what happens after we run out of these natural resources. However, in order for it to be truly sustainable, we have to ensure that we are able to grow the resources faster than we consume them. As mentioned in one of the earlier lessons, if everyone consumed at US’s rates, we would need 3-5 earths to support the entire world’s population. Not forgetting the rapidly increasing population. With the advancement of technology in the healthcare and medical sectors, the average life expectancy rate has increased, and the infant mortality rate has decreased. It is estimated that the world’s population would increase to about 10 billion people, from 7 billion as of today. With an increase in the number of people in the world, consumption rates would also increase, and limited resources get depleted at an even faster rate. Hence, although being able to grow the resources we need would allow us to achieve sustainability, I feel that it is more important to control our consumption, as well as find alternative resources in order to ultimately achieve sustainability.

Another point to note is whether we can effectively distribute these resources to all parts of the world, not just the wealthier and more advanced nations. Similarly to food, there is more than enough to satisfy the hungers of the entire world’s population, yet there are still many people in the poorer regions such as Africa who do not have enough to eat. In a way we do have enough resources, just that it is not distributed evenly among everyone. We look at those without sufficient resources and conclude that the world does not have enough when in actual fact we may actually have, just that it not properly and efficiently utilized. Hence, one of the solutions to this problem is to find ways to grow things faster, or produce more within a shorter period of time, which brings us to the topic of genetically modified foods.

GM foods came about in order to solve the problem of food shortage. For example, crops such as BT corn, golden rice and GM salmon have resulted in better and faster yields, and more nutritious food. However, some have labeled these as ‘Frankenfoods’ and many ethical and social issues have come up. There are concerns whether these GM food are safe for consumption and whether it poses a danger to animal, plant life and the environment, as these processes involve recombining plant and animal genes. Although it has been declared many times that there are presently no danger in consuming these GM foods, many are still protesting. In my opinion, I feel that people should learn to trust technology and the ones who are protesting are probably the ones who do not go to bed hungry. There are other issues with GM food, such as patenting and intellectual property rights.

As with the medical and healthcare biotechnology industry, patents and the protection of intellectual properties in the agriculture business have prevented poor farmers from using such technologies. Although farmers may be interested in employing these technologies in order to increase yield, they cannot do so as they cannot afford to economically. Unless big corporations are able to look at the bigger picture and not be only concerned with their selfish wants, the agricultural and biotechnology sector will not be able to advance as quickly as it could have been.

This week’s lesson has been very interesting and relevant to me and I would rate it an 8/10. Hopefully one day technological advances would allow food resources to be distributed equally to the poorer nations and that no one would ever have to go to bed hungry.