Power Surge -- Watch this documentary!

 Today between classes we watched a NOVA episode titled Power Surge. 

I strongly recommend watching this show, which is available here

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m66BDGXZwRo

It's a really high quality production, far more interesting and newer (2011) than An Inconvenient Truth. It focuses on several technologies being investigated as energy sources to reduce future carbon emissions. It's only 56 minutes long, so check it out. It gives you a good idea of the scale of the problem (massive), and where we are in relation to solving it (not close at all). 

Homework Questions:

What do they propose be the solution to the energy crisis is?

1.      They propose that the solution is a combination of various “wedges”, consisting of new technologies, the improvement of existing technologies, and the reduction of overall energy consumption. There is no one solution. The overall goal can be met in a variety of different ways. The challenge is to determine the most economic and least environmentally damaging method and to execute it as soon as possible.

In order to get a handle on the problem, we need to prevent our carbon emissions from increasing beyond today’s levels. This means cutting out approximately 7 billion tons of CO₂ per year by 2050. In Pascala’s wedge model, he allows for 7 different solutions, each contributing 1 billion tons per year of cuts in carbon emissions. For example, the green wedge represented efficiency. Doubling the fuel economy of our passenger cars by using more hybrid or electric vehicles would be included in this wedge. The blue wedge represented carbon dioxide that could be buried deep underground as part of a carbon capture technique. The yellow wedge represented the tripling of the number of operational nuclear energy plants, and the red wedge represented energy from the sun, which included not just solar, but also wind and biomass. Different combinations of these technologies can be used, and in different amounts, but the overall point is that the problem is so gargantuan that there is no “silver bullet” to climate change, and that breaking down the problem into more manageable pieces is the best way to approach it.

Do you agree or disagree with their assessment of how to solve the problem?

2.      I agree with that assessment. Undoubtedly certain technologies will prove more useful than others, but it’s too early to know where the best sources will be. Research and development of many different technologies must be tried. Some attempts will fail, but hopefully innovative breakthroughs will invent our way out of the environmental dilemma we have gotten ourselves into.

Do they accurately address the effects of the environment, society and economy when they consider what alternative energies to use?

3.      I think they do. The episode gives a close look at different emerging technologies, and most importantly, keeps amounts in perspective. They help visualize the problem by using solid fertilizer to show how big an individual’s carbon footprint really is. And when discussing solutions, such as pumping CO₂ underground or installing synthetic trees for carbon capture, they usually include an idea of how practical each idea is, and not just whether it works in theory. This was also apparent in the fermentation of biodiesels, where the scientist working on it described how the specially engineered yeast can convert the grain into a useful fuel. Then he went on to describe that to produce a tablespoon full of jet fuel in this manner would cost $100,000. So it shows how difficult the challenge can be in designing processes to make these fuels cheaper.