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.
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