#8

Week 8 focuses on Energy and World Change (Past, Present and Future).
This session basically focuses on energy sustainability in the world today, given the endless wants and needs of humans today. The technology we would need to develop is one that can ensure certain sustainability by increasing efficiency, reduction technology and renewable resources.



The diagram above reflects some of the main sources of energy that we get from the Earth today. Indeed we see that there are so many various ways to derive energy, therefore the possibilities for sustainable energy is endless.

The most feasible form of renewable energy that was discussed in class and in my opinion, would have to be solar energy. The energy given by the sun is most definitely something that can be sustained for a long time and provide for the huge population we have today. Germany, a country that is known to have little sun, is already incorporating the idea of solar energy into their countries. The way they provided the incentives to people is the idea that the people can earn money from each tile of solar energy source that they buy. This results in a revolution throughout some parts of the country, solar energy providing up to 30% of the energy that they consume. This only makes us reflect on our own habits. In Singapore, a country where we complain about the intensity of the sun everyday, it would be even more efficient if we were to turn to solar energy instead. So definitely, we can actually go so far, it's a matter of whether we want to.

Furthermore, other sources like wind energy can also be used. In windy places, windmills can generate a fair amount of energy to provide for the needs of the country.

By making use of natural, clean and renewable resources, we can move forward from the problem of limited resources. At the moment there is the obstacle of it being more expensive, therefore a united effort is definitely needed to move out of the stage.

It of course takes a united effort. One person's changed mindset will not be of much use unless that person has the capacity to make changes. Eventually all of us have to realize where we're heading to by not using renewable energy, and to add on to that, I think we need a real, harsh wake up call before we would finally make the switch.

Overall, I would rate the session 7/10. The topic is not of great interest to me, but the class discussions were insightful and I have picked up several useful lessons.