The topic for this class was ‘Energy and World Change’. We discussed the past, present and future of energy consumption and the impact this consumption had on the environment and in the far away future, us.
We started out by watching a video that showed us how we need to operate in order to survive. Thousands of years of over utilizing non renewable resources has led to not just the degradation of the environment but also very less non renewable forms of energy left for ourselves and our posterity to consume. This video ended with a message to ‘Think New’. Technology needs to be adopted for our planet to survive. Renewable resources have to be utilized to save our planet.
It is predicted that if we continue to consume oil, at the current rate, there will be none left in the next 40 to 50 years to come! This piece of information was scary. Another 50 years and there is no oil available to consume! Surviving without this resource is nearly unconceivable, at this stage. We must go green and use substitutes (non renewable resources) in order to survive.
There are several benefits of using non renewable resources. One, renewables are limited. They are soon going to deplete. There is only about 100 years of Oil left in Iraq! Two, the use of technology would increase efficiency and reduce cost. In poor countries, like certain places in Africa, people use wood, twigs etc as sources of energy. Upgrading to the biomass stove would be better. Three, it’ll help make many countries independent and self reliant. Countries that aren’t rich in mineral resources like oil, coals etc depend highly on countries like Iraq. Singapore is highly dependent on other countries for energy since it produces zero or very little energy itself. Therefore, it is not secure. Fourth, many economies like Nigeria, rely heavily on the primary industry. Primary sector activity is responsible for 95% of Nigeria’s revenues. What happens when there are no resources left?!
Different countries have been ‘going green’ and adopting technology. Chinas consumption of oil has increased drastically. But side by side, it doubled its investment in green technology! It’s ironic of US can’t stop telling China to reduce its consumption when US consumes so much more!
The use of ethanol fuel in Brazil instead of Petrol is another example. Most countries are moving towards substituting Petrol for Biofuel. The European Union in its green paper has called for biofuels to account for 20% of gasoline use by 2020. The Ministry for Energy in Thailand proposes phasing out all Octane 95 gasoline to be replaced by E10 in the next two years. Only a couple of months ago, Obama showed sudden interest in ‘Synthetic Biology’.
In conclusion, there are technologies available that make it possible for the world to use renewable energy. Most countries do not understand the intensity of the situation. Before we know it, we would have consumed all our natural resources.
I would rate this class a 10 on 10 since this topic is of great relevance, high importance and priority. This problem needs to be solved in order to sustain life on this planet.
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