Discussion

Exercise 9.7

1. Congratulations!!! You have just been put in charge of the Republic of Karelia. List the five most important features of your energy policy.

2. If you were considering an alternative source of energy for your region and climate, what factors would you need to take into account?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being disconnected from central utility power?

4. Although we have wasted vast amounts of energy resources in the process of industrialization and development, some would say that it was a necessary investment to get to a point at which we can use energy more efficiently and sustainably. Do you agree? Might we have followed a different path?

Unit 10 energy crisis

International conference

Chairman: Ladies and gentlemen! Today we are looking again at the problem of the world’s limited energy resources. Nobody knows exactly how much fuel is left, but pessimistic forecasts say that there is only enough coal for 450 years and enough natural gas for 50 years and that oil might run out in 30 years. Obviously we have to do something, and we have to do it soon. Debate continues about the use of nuclear power to solve this crisis. First, I’d like to give the floor to Professor William White of the New England Institute of Technology, the USA. Welcome, Professor White.

Professor White: To begin with, I’d like to point out that we are in a long-range energy crisis. With lower oil prices people have forgotten that, as you said, fossil fuels  coal, oil and gas  are running out. The tragedy is that fossil fuels are far too valuable to waste on the production of electricity. Just think of all the things we make from oil! If we don’t start conserving these things now, it will be too late. And nuclear power is the only real alternative. We are getting some electricity from nuclear power plants already. If we invest in further research now, we’ll be ready to face the future. There’s been a lot of protest lately against nuclear power  some people will protest anything  but nuclear power plants are not as dangerous as some people say. It’s far more dangerous to work down in a coalmine or on an offshore oilrig. Safety regulations in nuclear power plants are very strict.

If we spent money on research now, we could develop plants, which create their own fuel and burn their own waste. In many parts of the world where there are no fossil fuels, nuclear power is the only alternative. If you accept that we need electricity, then we will need nuclear energy. Just imagine what the world would be like if we didn’t have electricity  no heating, no lighting, no industry, no radio or TV. Just think about the ways you use electricity every day. Surely we don’t want to go back to the Stone Age. That’s what will happen if we turn our backs on nuclear research.

Chairman: Thank you, Professor White. Our next speaker is Doctor Jean Blank, the representative of the Campaign Against Nuclear Energy, France.

Doctor Blank: I must totally disagree with Professor White. Let’s look at the facts. First, there is no perfect machine. I mean, why do planes crash? Machines fail! People make mistakes. What would happen if there were a serious nuclear accident? And an accident is inevitable – sooner or later. We shouldn’t forget about Chernobyl tragedy when huge territories were evacuated and they will remain contaminated with radioactivity for years, and not a penny in compensation! No insurance company covers nuclear risks. And there are accidents all the time. If the nuclear industry didn’t keep them quiet, there would be a public outcry. Radioactivity causes cancer and may affect future generations.

Next, nuclear waste. There is no technology for absolutely safe disposal. Some of this waste will remain radioactive for thousands of years. Is that what we want to leave to our children? And their children’s children?

Next, terrorism. Terrorists could blackmail the whole country if they captured a reactor. The Savannah River nuclear plant, and Professor White knows this very well, lost (yes, lost!) enough plutonium between 1965 and 1988 to make 18  181 Atomic bombs! Where is it? Who has it?

I believe, that nuclear energy is expensive, dangerous, evil, and most of all, absolutely unnecessary. I think our next guest will be saying more about that.

Chairman: Yes, thank you, Dr. Blank, you are right. Now I give the floor to Dr. Catalina Burgous from Spain. Dr. Burgous is the author of several books on alternative technology.

Dr. Burgous: I’d like to begin by agreeing with Dr. Blank. We can develop alternative sources of power, and unless we try we’ll never succeed. Instead of burning fossil fuels we should be concentrating on more economic uses of electricity, because electricity can be produced from any source of energy. If we didn’t waste so much energy, our resources would last longer. You can save more energy by conservation than you can produce for the same money. Unless we do research in solar energy, wind power, wave power, tidal power, hydroelectric projects, etc., our fossil fuels will run out, and we’ll all freeze or starve to death. Countries should spend more on research, and don’t forget that energy from the sun, the waves, and the wind lasts forever. We really won’t survive unless we start working on cleaner, safer sources of energy.

Chairman: Thank you, Dr. Burgous.

Dr. Hustavson: Could I add some information on this point? I am Dr. Hustavson from the Danish Technological Institute, Copenhagen.

Chairman: Welcome, Dr. Hustavson

Dr. Hustavson: While scientists, politicians and mass media argue about the causes of global warming and ways to control it, environment conscious Denmark has been working on production techniques that harness clean power sources like wind, sun and bio-gas. At Avedore Vaerket, 10 kms south of Copenhagen, a typical wind farm, built by the Danish electricity giant NESA, at a cost of 32 million Danish krooner now produces one megawatt of electricity. One of the mills is the largest in the world. Denmark has 3.800 windmills, producing some 3,5 percent of total electricity needs. Denmark plans eventually to meet 10% of its electricity needs from wind power.

At Ellsinore, 40 kms north of Copenhagen, the North Zealand biogas plant crushes household wastes, liquefies it, and then heats it to produce gas, which is used by the adjacent power plant. The residue goes to plants farms as compost.

Villa Vision, an experimental house, built by the Danish Technological Institute in Copenhagen has 40 cm of insulation on all exterior walls and ceilings and beneath the floor, and special windows. Solar panels provide hot water and room heating, and there are energy saving automatic controls to switch off systems when they are not needed, to save water and to take advantage of cheap power rates.

Chairman: Thank you, Dr. Hustavson, for your most interesting information. Our final speaker on the subject of energy is Joseph Hang, Under Secretary of Energy, Washington, DC, the USA. Welcome, Mr. Hang.

Mr. Hang: I’ve been listening to the other speakers with great interest. By the way, I don’t agree with some of the estimates of world energy reserves. More oil and gas is being discovered all the time. If we listened to the pessimists, (and there are a lot of them around) none of us would sleep at night. In the short run, we must continue to rely on the fossil fuels  oil, coal and gas. But we must also look to the future. Our policy must be flexible. Unless we thought new research was necessary, we wouldn’t be spending money on it. After all we wouldn’t have a Department of Energy unless most people thought it was important. The big question is where to spend the money  on conservation of present resources or on research into new forms of power. But I am fairly optimistic. I wouldn’t be in this job unless I were an optimist.