Al Gore once said in his speech in 2008, "We can't negotiate the facts. We can't negotiate the truth about the situation. And for those who are too fearful to finish, it can be done and must be done. Make sure we succeed,...It is wrong for this generation to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every future generation."
I watched the show 'The Inconvenient Truth', which is basically about him, Al Gore, talking about global warming, and how we need to start finding sustainable resources for our planet, and what is being done and so on. I find it a really interesting show, and his points are clear and well planned. Moreover, he is an amazing speaker too. Today's topic covers the aspect of Energy and World Change. Our resources are being depleted at a fast rate, much quicker than they can be grown again, hence the term 'non-renewable'. Like what Al Gore said in his quote above, it is our responsibility to make this planet sustainable not only for us, but for the future generations as well. We do not owN this planet, neither does the planet owE us. The onus is on us, especially our generation to think up of new inventions, new methods to renew resources such that they are sustainable. Gone are the days of traditional biomass energies, but instead newer ones like modern bioenergy are taking over. Not only is it burning of wood and coal, we now turn to gasification and hydrolysis and many others. Incorporating new technologies into olden methods, a good sign of improvement I reckon.
Once more, Prof's quote for today: "The days of fossil fuels are numbered. Renewable energy will drive the Green Revolution." I agree with him on this, as I feel that the world is also becoming more globally aware. Besides the implementation of the MDG, there is also the Kyoto Protocol and many countries are urging their people to start recycling and using less energy/stop wasting resources.
Video: Animation: Climate change, energy & action
This video is an interesting one which shows animation of how much energy we are consuming and how it hurts the earth, until we go green, which the colours will then change from red to green, and the animated buildings will smile. It is a simple yet powerful message being sent out. Another video below is about how Germany started tapping into renewable energy resources. Although I feel that this is an extremely good and efficient method, and that it will work really well in Singapore I can foresee, as Singapore is near the equator, we have sunshine all year round, solar panels are a good investment. However there are also limitations to it-Singapore lacks the land to install solar panels on open areas like farms etc, just like Germany in the video. Countries like Germany have much more land, and more landed properties, hence each house can have a solar panel on its roof. However, Singapore is mainly high rise buildings and HDB flats, thus the number of houses to install solar panels on are limited in that sense already. Moreover, I feel that it is pretty unsightly to have solar panels paving our streets everywhere. We are supposed to be a green city, I guess the literal meaning of green as in plants and trees, and not environmentally friendly 'green'.
One of the readings mentioned that solar energy is most widely available, as compared to wind and biomass etc. If we were to use the same policy as Germany government, using monetary incentives to encourage people to install solar panels on their roof, this would firstly be a great start in getting the countrymen involved. The onus isn't on the researchers or the govenrment alone, everyone should play a part in this as long as we stay on this planet.
We had 5 presenters today:
The Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy by Randy
Fusion Energy by Sweeney
Nuclear Energy, a better Alternative Energy for the World? by Thiha
Selecting your Energy Source by Marvin
Carbon Capture and Recyling by Patrick
I felt that Randy's presentation on the nine challenges was pretty good, he even came up with abbreviations for us to remember them by: TWC SMILE E. Patrick's slides were really cool, I just started using Prezi not long ago too, and it can do so much more than Powerpoint. Anyway, his topic on CCR was interesting, about how car exhaust fumes can be instantly recycled to be used as fuel to power the car, so its a close loop process.
All in all, I thought today's topic is one that is being discussed globally, and is a hot topic given our current state of the rate we're comsuming resources. I am all for using renewable energies like wind, solar, wave, hydroelectric powers etc. I would rate today's lesson an 8 out of 10, as this topic is widely relevant to our society and our life.
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