Session 8

This week’s lesson was on the topic of energy and world change. There is a need to find alternative sources of sustainable energy since the oil reserves that the world is most dependent on for energy are drying up at a rapid rate. For us to be able to reap the greatest benefit from the developments of the future, it is necessary for us to develop energy efficient technology.

As mentioned by prof in class, there are many sources of energy, ranging from biomass and solar energy above ground, to coal and gas underground. The challenge of the future is then to develop the most efficient method of harnessing energy to power future technology from these available sources.

One thing that shocked me the most was the realisation that the amount of energy produced by the sun in one hour is more than sufficient for the world to use in a year. However, there is still a lot of research going on about how biomass can produce energy, even though the amount of energy produced is still significantly lower than what solar energy is able to produce. Perhaps all the resources used in these research can be better spent on trying to emulate what the German government has been implementing in the country- Germany's solar experiment, where residents of Germany are actively encouraged to buy solar panels for their houses in return for cheaper electricity bills. While the environmental benefits of this scheme is undeniable (since the environment is not getting destroyed by coal mining and the burning of fossil fuels), I do not think that many governments would be supportive of implementing this scheme, because there is little incentive for them to do so. In countries like Singapore where there are high taxes on utility bills, a scheme like this could possibly mean a smaller budget available for government spending. It is also not very feasible for countries with little land space, since it is almost impossible for everyone to own their own solar panel.

The presentations this week were also interesting. Benedict talked about the use of banana peels and beet waste as a source of biofuel. I remember Hengsin’s presentation a few weeks ago, mentioning that the use of biofuel has led to many farmers now growing more crops that produce biofuel rather than food, since those kinds of crops tend to earn them more money. Hence, Benedict’s presentation was interesting to me, because it showed that it is not necessarily true that there has to be a tradeoff between producing food crops and biofuel crops, since different parts of the same plant can satisfy both uses. Take the banana for example, farmers can still sell bananas for consumption while selling the banana peel as biofuel. Although the use of biofuels is not the most efficient method of producing energy, encouraging farmers to produce such crops can possibly alleviate the problem of food shortage, which is worsening as farmers are turning to producing crops that can be sold to produce biofuels.

Rui Qi’s presentation was about how the Three Gorges Dam in China has actually been destroying its immediate environment while producing energy from the waves that pass through it. While it is unfortunate that the dam has caused the water in its surrounding to be polluted in a bid to produce renewable energy, I feel that this problem can be prevented if the Chinese were to make the effort to clean up the water. Developments to produce energy should not be blamed for problems that can be prevented if only people are more responsible in their actions.

Rating: 9/10

I always thought that there was great potential for biofuel to be the future source of energy since we can control the amount of energy produced by growing more crops, but this lesson showed me that there are many other sources that can produce so much more.