Lesson 8:Energy and World Change ( Past, Present and future)

This week's lesson focuses on Energy and world change from 3 dimensions namely, past, present and future. We have discussed in class about how energy has transformed from the fossil fuels era to our era of using green technology to achieve sustainable development. In our world today, we are focusing on energy conserving technologies in terms of maximising energy efficiency and GDP. We are seeking new ways to create a new source of energy that do not pollute the environment and at the same time prevent pollution in our environment. This is actually in line prof Gurinder quote of the week as shown below


                                   "The days of fossil fuels are numbered. 
                           Renewable energy will drive the green revolution"


One of the interesting observations that i found is since the discovery of fossil fuel, it has been used extensively and something unexpected happened in 2009; It was the only time when the fuel usage is the lowest. Some may argue that this is not due to the increased awareness of green technologies but largely due to economy contraction due to various unforeseen circumstances. I do agree that it is part of the reason but not the main reason. As we are facing the wretch of global warming, there is a need to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and switch our attention to renewable energies. The reason is simply given the estimated amount of fossil fuels left, it will only last between 40-50 years. Hence, i would say that it is through this awareness, companies and government decide to reduce their reliance on renewable energies. Next interesting fact is that the sun transmit as much as 3 850 000 EJ the earth and this is something that we can work on. What is more surprising is that we are tapping less than 1/4 of the energy that the sun has gave to the earth. The source of fossil fuels indirectly comes from solar and i believe that we can focus on solar energy as a source of renewable energy since the energy is in abundance. One country that adopted this approach is Germany. Germany aims is to achieve 20% renewable energy usage within in the country by 2020. 


The key takeaway for this week is that there is a need to switch to alternate forms of energy generation. We should not rely on fossil fuels for energy generation our non renewable resources are depleting. If we do not curb our usage, we will be compromising our future generations and hence not achieving sustainable development. We can see that countries such as Brazil are moving towards Bioethanol. I am sure that as time goes by, different countries will expand their creativity on creating new technologies that is green and reduce their reliance on non renewable resources. Another key takeaway is that the government and industries are not the only one that could play a part in reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Community too can play a part. For instance, the cash incentives given to citizens in Germany that sells their excessive energy generated from their solar panel and the profit motivation factor encourage more people to adopt this technology. Government plays a huge role in encouraging the community to adopt this technology.


Well, this week session was another fruitful journey and it has indeed expand my knowledge about how much we have evolved from the fossil fuels ONLY era to our various forms of energy generation today. However, i hope a more elaborate discussion could be held with regards to Geo engineering which i finds it pretty interesting. Hence for this week lesson, i would rate it 8.5/10


Before i end this post, i will share with u guys with an interesting quote:


Be real, because a mask only fools people on the outside. Pretending to be someone your not, takes a toll on the real you, and the real you is more important than anyone else.