The session started off with a unnerving quote that if everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and U.S resident, the world energy resources would be depleted within 9 years. This would mean that we are consuming too much energy in a finite world. However, is it really the fault of humans to consume so much energy? Without a doubt as countries develop, there would be a greater demand for energy. .
Energy primarily comes from 2 areas - Above ground and underground. Some examples of energy that are above ground are solar and wind while those from underground are oil and coal.
Interesting enough, those that are above ground are actually infinite energy resources while those that are underground are finite. Dr Shahi then shared about Brazil alcohol program in which the government uses ethanol for energy consumption. I read about it and it is actually a successful program. It helps to free the country from the vicious chain of rising oil prices and at the same time achieving sustainability.
Next we are shown a graph about the global energy consumption for each sources of energy. Top of the list would be coal, natural gas and oil. The interesting observation here would be that the amount of solar energy generated by the sun in one hour is equivalent to the amount of energy we consume on one year!
So I went to research on why the world is not turning to solar energy. One of the reason was that the amount of sunlight shone per unit area is too small. It was calculated that to provide enough energy for a house, it requires a solar panel with the an area that is at least 10% that house floor area. There would be not enough space to build so much solar panel for every house in a country! Furthermore, the technology is currently very expensive.
Since we are at this topic, I would like to highlight about the use of space solar panel to harvest solar energy. This is Ayesha's oral presentation topic. The issue here will be about the amount of efficient energy transmitted to earth. Energy will be lost as heat energy in the stratosphere and the antenna on earth is unable to capture all the microwaves transmitted due to its limited area. Maybe in the future something can be done to increase the amount of efficient energy.
Next, we learnt that renewable energy is unable to sustain the whole of America's population. The world is consuming so much energy that maybe it is time to look back and see whether there is a need to consume so much energy. Renewable energy can only prolong our use of finite energy resources.
We also learnt about the impetus of renewable energy research. Apparently, China top the list. China use of coal for consumption has resulted in some debilitating environmental concerns and that is the impetus for their government to research on clean energy consumption.
Lastly, we discuss about the application of clean energy in everyday technology. The most ideal example to use would be electric car. It does not use oil as its fuel and does not leave any carbon footprints. The downside would be its shorter distance mileage, long charging time and the lack of charging station. Despite being a green technology, why does Singapore not adopt the use of electric car? It was even discuss on the straits time about the use of electric cars. One reason I could think of is the inertia for Singaporeans to switch their cars due to extremely high COE and their mindset that a good car symbolizes wealth.
To end off i would rate the session 8.5/10. Session was finally able to end on time and there was ample discussion for every individual presentation.
No comments:
Post a Comment