WEEK 5: SUMMARY/READER'S RESPONSE DRAFT #1: CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION
In the article “How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up?”, Ha (2019) wrote on experts who addressed how Southeast Asia (SEA) should implement various methods to beget green energy production. According to Ha, Moniz, who is the Chief Executive of the Energy Futures and Nuclear Threat Initiative, stated that deploying an array of "low-carbon technologies and solutions" in SEA is vital to reducing emissions. Moniz also mentioned that Singapore is inapt for the usage of solar and wind power due to having limited natural resources and space and may reap more from nuclear fusion or hydrogen power. Ha also says that implementing such methods is not cost efficient to meet the objective of the Paris Agreement.
Ha
also mentioned that Wong, the Group Chief Executive of utilities company
Singapore Power, believes that balancing energy consumption rates are more
critical than creating a new energy source to suit our current lifestyle.
Instead,
Ha mentions the Ecosperity report, in which it would be more beneficial for SEA
if energy conservation methods were emphasised more while accommodating growing
economic needs.
In
my opinion, it is more practical for Singapore to focus on energy conserving
technologies to accommodate to the country’s current lifestyle rather than to
create a new energy source due to the country's constraint space and dense
population.
Firstly,
it is well known that Singapore is a small country with limited space to have
significant developments without taking up a large amount of land. In the
article it was mentioned by Moniz that Singapore may reap more from nuclear
fusion or hydrogen power. Yes, it may be better to employ nuclear fusion energy,
but Moniz failed to recognise that Singapore is a country with scarce land. It
would not be simple to have a suitable location to have a large-scale deployment
of new energy sources. At the same time, the country is densely populated which
means that should there be an accident at the nuclear plants, the population
will be exposed to the effects easily.
Secondly,
it is more economical and sustainable to use energy conserving technologies
than to create a new energy source such as nuclear fusion. In Singapore, it
would be easy for us to switch to nuclear fusion energy as most of our energy
consumption comes from the high usage of air-conditioners. Although it is
relatively cheap and sustainable to run a nuclear fusion plant, the cost to
build it is paramount and could be up to billions. As compared to using renewable
energy sources such as solar and hydro power where costs of building and maintaining
them are only in the millions range.
Lastly,
to reinforce my first point, the building of nuclear fusion plants would also not
be cost efficient to comply with the Paris Agreement. The World Nuclear
Association (2020) states that nuclear fusion involves the different isotopes
of hydrogen being heated to extreme temperatures reaching 50 million degrees
Celsius, and must be stabilised under intense pressure, density and be confined
long enough for the nuclei to bond. The amount of heat that is generated for
nuclear fusion is very costly to implement compared to conventional methods
when addressing the Paris Agreement needs.
However,
it can be argued that due to improving construction technology, the costs of constructing
nuclear fusion plants have reduced which makes it more viable and the radiation
cause by its waste would also not pose a problem if isolation procedures were
taken. Having a limit on storing renewable energy such as solar and hydro also
makes nuclear energy more appealing due to its close to endless generation.
Although
creating new energy sources may be viable in the future, I feel that with the
technology of our time, looking into ways to refine renewable energy is the way
to go.
(630
words)
References:
Ha,
T. (2019, July 19). How can Southeast Asia's Clean Energy Transition be sped
up? Eco-Business. https://www.eco-business.com/news/how-can-southeast-asias-clean-energy-transition-be-sped-up/
World Nuclear Association. (2020, November). Nuclear fusion power.
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