Lesson 8 - 10 Oct 11

Today we talked about Energy, and world change.

All these while we recognised that fossil fuels are running out, coal is running out and it's pollution, there is a need for us to find alternative resources.

We explored renewable resources like water, wind and solar energy. One astonishing fact is that the Sun produces so much energy that an hour of solar energy is enough to power up the world for a year. Why aren't we able to harness it?

Sometimes i really wished that we have abundant energy, so we can have one less worry. The cost of electricity are postulated to rise if our contemporary renewable energies run out and we will have to depend on Nuclear or renewable energies already.

However, not all nations are made for renewable energy of one kind. For example, Singapore. Let me list down a few types of renewable energy and my own forecasting :
1) Nuclear - Won't happen. If a meltdown happens Singapore will not exist anymore
2) Geothermal - Don't think it exist here.
3) Wind - May account for less than 10% of our energy needs?
4) Solar - May account for 50% of our energy usage in the future if we harness properly!
5) Water - No way... does Marina Barrage count?
6) Biomass - Not sustainable unless we are really loaded.

I believe there will be many others that we can consider, but at looking at Singapore's current options, if nuclear can be made much safer, I believe that we can branch into that aspect.

Prime Minister Lee has not played down the possibilities of nuclear energy in Singapore despite efforts of tightening regulation, however my personal take is that we could make use of what is provided free from the Sun : Solar energy, and we try to harness it as much as possible.

There now exists portable Solar panel chargers for portable mobile devices already, i saw it when i was walking around Sim Lim. Around the landed properties at Lorong Chuan area i see Solar Panels, apparently these are being used around, but not proliferated enough.

Looking at the infrastructure of SMU, it is not frightening to see an expensive utility bill, perhaps if we can ever integrate Solar Panels with windows, wouldn't it be nice?


Overall, 9/10!

I enjoyed today's exploration and discussion a lot as this is a huge determinant of how we are going to survive in the future.

Points for further discussion :
How is Singapore going to sustain her energy needs in the future?