It's all about energy
Laurence L Delina2009, Japan Today
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Sustainable energy is about shifting the way we source and produce our energy from being fossil-fuel addicts to being clean energy users. This means extracting energy from environmentally benign systems (biofuels) or renewable sources, no more no less. It is also about ensuring that losses along the way as energy is transported from source and distributed to consumers are kept at a minimum, which means increasing efficiency. Moreover, sustainable energy is about providing a workable policy environment wherein these new systems can thrive. Lastly, it is also about zeroing out the statistic about electricity-deprived people.
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It's all about energy
By Laurence L Delina
As the world’s policymakers are gearing up for the year’s (or even this generation’s) very important
deliberations in Copenhagen in December, people especially the non-specialists are wondering what is it all
about. They might have the grasp of what climate change is, but a few might realized how it came about or what
contributed to it.
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It's all about energy › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
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It’s simple. The world has overtly become addicted to fossil fuels in the past century to meet the demands of the
industrial revolution. This addiction has resulted to vast amounts of pollutants concentrated in the atmosphere
such that it traps the heat from the sun and could no longer be rebounded back to space therefore staying on
earth for good – this is called the greenhouse effect. Over time, more heat remains and the earth became warm.
Blame it then to unsustainable use of energy sources.
Energy, as Einstein defines it, is what describes “everything.” Einstein, perhaps, was the first human being to
expound on this claim and revolutionized the way we think about energy. It is always associated with “power.” It
not only drives economies, but also defines quality of life. The amount of energy one consumes is always in
direct proportion to their economic status.
Observe that the world’s economic superpowers are also the huge consumers of energy, and vice versa. To state
it simply, energy makes the world go round, and at the same time defines the polarity between the rich and the
poor. This development truth is being compounded by truths manifested by the changing climate. The way
human beings treat energy since the dawn of the Industrial Age has translated into great concentrations of
harmful gases in the atmosphere, which makes the earth warmest in the last 10 years.
The realities of the warming planet laid down the basis for sustainability to become this generation’s byword.
Everybody talks about it - from pan global organizations such as the United Nations and global financiers such
as the World Bank, to large and small corporations. They have not only embraced, but also professed,
sustainability as an organizational mantra.
In fact, almost every organization now has a sustainability department, or at least has somebody assigned to do
something about it. Sustainability, in simplest terms, means “capability to being continued.” In the
environmental sense, this continuity also entails a continuity that brings no harm to the environment. Talking
about a sustainable world will be a continuing issue especially as the earth has begun showing manifestations of
change in its climatic systems, and as policymakers are gearing up for climate talks and deals in December.
We need to change the way we view energy. This should be a drastic and radical change to totally shift from
intensive, carbon-based energy to one that is sustainable. Sustainable energy could not only mean sourcing,
creating, distributing and consuming energy in a continuous fashion utilizing a system that does not bring further
harm to the environment, but it also possesses a greater definition, that is making energy available across the
board, reaching especially those who for years remain electricity-deprived. Sustainable energy is therefore an
array of challenges.
Notice that our definition tells of a “path” - from source/producer to end-of-pipe/consumer. Here, we are shown
the first challenge, which is to make this path as clean as possible and ensure that there is less/minimum (to
nothing if possible) intrusion towards the environment.
The definition also mentions a “system.” Because energy flows from A to B, a particular system is needed to
facilitate the transfer. There are serious problems in these systems at the moment. From source to final
consumption, we have problems. Our current sources of energy are mostly dirty, usually in fossilized forms
emitting large quantities of pollutants responsible for our warming planet. At the same time, we are losing
energy in the process. A large amount of which are wasted before it reached points of consumption. These
problems have been long recognized and current policy suggests two ways: reversion to renewables and
non-fossil sources (to address problems at source) and energy conservation by increasing efficiency (to address
problems along-the-way). This is the second challenge.
Sustainable energy also talks about access for all. This means that although energy is currently concentrated in
the rich world, the necessary infrastructure is needed to be provided at the opposite direction in order to make it
available all throughout. The latest estimate is that more than 50% of the world population still lacks access to
electricity. These are people who do not have lights at night and who still rely on traditional fuel to cook their
food. The third challenge therefore is about ways to address energy poverty, which means closing the gap
between the energy-rich and the energy-poor.
Summing up, sustainable energy is about shifting the way we source and produce our energy from being
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It's all about energy › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
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fossil-fuel addicts to being clean energy users. This means extracting energy from environmentally benign
systems (biofuels) or renewable sources, no more no less. It is also about ensuring that losses along the way as
energy is transported from source and distributed to consumers are kept at a minimum, which means increasing
efficiency. Moreover, sustainable energy is about providing a workable policy environment wherein these new
systems can thrive. Lastly, it is also about zeroing out the statistic about electricity-deprived people.
Laurence L Delina is currently consultant to the Energy Security Section of the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). UNESCAP is the U.N.’s development arm in the
Asia-Pacific region and is headquartered in Bangkok.
Cleantech Asia Online
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8 Comments
sf2k at 12:31 PM JST - 22nd November
Japan can reduce its fossil fuel +90% oil product dependency quite well with geothermal drilling and
hydrothermal cooling, since it is a ring of fire country and also with so many cities on the edge of water. I
know its not sexy, doesn't involve flashy solar panels and no silver suits, but it would reduce the kerosene
hee-taa disaster and could work like Iceland.
It would unfortunately create thousands of jobs, long term livelihoods, appeal to a greener younger
generation, and produce a sense of country-wide resilience, and innovation, so I realize it won't be acted
upon.
pawatan at 06:40 PM JST - 22nd November
The amount of energy one consumes is always in direct proportion to their economic status.
What crap. Poor people cosume a lolt of energy because they need to use old, inefficient equipment. Cars
that pollute, old refrigerators that are horribly inefficient, etc. This is part of why every third world country
you visit has such horrible air.
victimcrat at 06:54 PM JST - 22nd November
As the world’s policymakers are gearing up for the year’s (or even this generation’s) very
important deliberations in Copenhagen in December, people especially the non-specialists are
wondering what is it all about. They might have the grasp of what climate change is, but a few
might realized how it came about or what contributed to it.
And just this last week hackers somewhere did the world a huge favor by exposing the scientists who
have, over a decade, systematically falsified climate data.
The game is up.
To read up on this just enter
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Hackers expose global warming claims leaked emails massaged temperature data
Badsey at 07:36 PM JST - 22nd November
For Solar Panels -Sharp makes good ones. Note you pay 3x more but the wattage rating is about 3x higher
for the same size of the cheap ones +20 warranty. Costco has them in the US and it's a fair deal.
5SpeedRacer5 at 01:25 AM JST - 23rd November
I think that this article is boring and painful to read, and that its points are obvious enough that this reads
like the preface to an introductory textbook.
However, looking at some of the comments, I can see a lot of diversity and detail. I think that is great. I
think a change has occurred whereby the UN and think tanks are no longer leading on this issue. Venture
companies are also getting left behind. There are so many good ideas popping up and consumers are
finding ways to solve problems. That trend is so much more important than the lip service to
environmental issues that I grew up with.
I think that the roots of the green movement are taking hold. Japan, at least, is making great progress on
many fronts.
I saw a great lamp today, but I did not buy it because the lampshade would not fit any LED bulb that I
know of. I bought some inexpensive towels to put under doors of my house to stop the flow of cold air
through my house. Three or four times, I considered buying something used instead of new. Not once
during the day did I even think that I was doing things "to be green." As in my case, I think that green-ness
is becoming natural for many people, and that is so much more hopeful for all of us than policy debate.
Badsey at 07:40 AM JST - 23rd November
You need a "door draft guard" -do a search and you can get one for $10 or get info to make your own. -Or
you can pay Billionaire Al Gore for carbon credits. So many choices these days.
timeon at 04:01 PM JST - 23rd November
meanwhile, the Hatoyama cabinet makes drastic cuts in the research budget. hmmm
5SpeedRacer5 at 09:05 PM JST - 23rd November
Badsey. Yeah. I need about 14, and I do not need them in the summer, so towels will do me just fine. I will
do something cute with them eventually, but for now I will just do kind of a rubber-bandy kind of thing. It
is a tough fix because I have some hardwood and some carpet.
Towels also give me an out if I decide to do something later. They are also cheap enough that they will pay
for themselves this winter.
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