James_Brown 18/6/09 08:42 Page 7
How do we satisfy our need for energy and sustain the environment?
not time-consuming; others are less so, but all are sure to pay for process is essentially what makes the Sun hot and allows life to exist on
themselves in savings in due course, indicating that energy Earth. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER),
conservation may actually lead to personal financial rewards. which has Korean, European, US, Indian, Russian and Japanese ties,
was given the go-ahead in February 2006. It paved the way for fusion.
Governments have a key role to play in achieving environmental This fusion is different from fission, as fusion does not have any benign
sustainability and reducing their nations’ demand for energy. In the by-products, thus allowing the provision of energy without many of the
short and medium term, a government can promote recycling and associated problems. The main advantage that fusion has over other
investment in renewable sources of energy, offer grants and subsidies developing forms of energy production is the sheer bulk of its support.
to households to improve efficiency and make public transport and I believe that it is this international interest that will allow nuclear fusion
utility vehicles efficient and more attractive to potential users. to go a long way as a method of energy production. The technology is
Governments have recently begun to introduce congestion charges in not quite there yet, but the vast investment is a sure-fire way to ensure
high-density urban areas, famously in London. This not only reduces the breakthroughs that humanity urgently needs.
the use of private vehicles in highly congested areas, but also
promotes the use of public transport (a large component of UK Furthermore, scientific advances are allowing us to capture renewable
government expenditure). It also increases government revenue, energy forms more comprehensively. The use of wind, geothermal and
which may be put towards the research and development of more hydroelectric power is becoming increasingly common, with the ability
efficient technologies, towards reducing income inequality and to construct large offshore wind farms just becoming a possibility. In
towards generally improving the quality of life of its citizens. This may addition, the idea of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is
be achieved directly through a number of means, perhaps the most starting to flourish. OTEC uses the temperature difference between an
obvious being to employ more workers in the public sector (teachers, ocean’s warm surface and cold depths to generate electricity; however,
doctors, nurses and police). it can currently be applied only in tropical areas where the temperature
difference is in excess of 20ºC. The US opened the world’s first ‘at-sea
One of the most promising government initiatives on a larger scale is power plant’ off the coast of Hawaii where the warm surface water
the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Under this ETS, the world’s vaporises ammonia. This vapour is then used to drive a turbine,
first multinational ‘cap-and-trade system’ for greenhouse gases, firms generating electricity, only to be condensed by the cooler water before
are allocated a set number of ‘polluting quotas’ that may be traded, the process is repeated. However, at present OTEC is costly and does
and subsequently carry ever-changing values. Large polluters, who not produce vast quantities of energy, although it is certainly promising
would normally exceed their polluting limits and consequently face stiff to improve in the future.
fines, can buy quotas from less polluting firms, who sell in order to gain
additional revenue. Clearly, by internalising the marginal and social The need to satisfy our energy requirements is possibly the greatest
costs of polluting, this programme has environmental, social, political challenge that we, as a society, face in our lives. We also need to realise
and economic advantages, and so is certainly beneficial. that we only have one real choice: to resolve the issues of sustainable
living now, rather than to go on polluting as we have been only to
The third and final ‘main player’ in the battle to reduce our demand for leave future generations to face the consequences of our ways of life.
energy and sustain the environment is the scientific community. It has Put simply, it is imperative that we find sustainable methods by which
the potential to achieve both through new innovations and the to live. Sustainability in the individual household has already been
development of more efficient technologies. However, the scientific achieved, and we now face the task of reducing the cost of this in order
world also has one other ability, one that would, without a doubt, be for it to spread. In my eyes, this is the best way in which we can achieve
extremely attractive to households, firms and governments alike. The what is yet to be achieved, to create entirely sustainable communities
scientific community could, in theory, actually satisfy our want for while making the infrastructure in which these houses lie sustainable.
energy and may even be able to provide our communities with the Sustainability on the grand scale may only be accomplished if we work
opportunity to expand their energy consumption, all while still together, all moving towards a common goal. There are a vast number
sustaining the environment. We are seeing major developments with of developing ideas in the technological and scientific worlds that have
nuclear fusion at the moment, and there is real talk that this may be the potential to solve both our environmental and our energy
the paramount provider of energy for future generations. Put simply, problems. I conclude that a combination of these, integrated into the
nuclear fusion occurs when four hydrogen atoms ‘fuse’, forming a foundations of a community such as Masdar, holds the key to the
helium atom. This new atom gives off immense energy, and this sustainable future of mankind. ■
2009 SCHOOLS ENERGY AWARDS
7
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27