Summary Reader Response Draft 3 ( Clean Energy Transition )
In the article, “How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up?”, Daubach (2019) wrote on experts who talked about how Southeast Asia (SEA) should implement different methods to instigate green energy production. According to Daubach, Moniz, who is the Chief Executive of the Energy Futures and Nuclear Threat Initiative, stated that the need to reduce emissions is essential by providing an array of “low-carbon technologies” in the region. Moniz also mentioned that Singapore’s limited natural resources and space is not suitable for the usage of solar and wind power. Moniz also said that Singapore can consider using nuclear fusion or hydrogen as an emission-free fuel for vehicles. The downside is that the implementation of such methods is very costly and does not meet the aim of the Paris Agreement. It is crucial that SEA region implements various solutions to advance into clean energy. However, Daubach only mentioned briefly about the disadvantages compared to the advantages of transiting into clean energy which might give readers a biased view of the article.
Firstly, the article stated that low carbon technologies should be implemented to reduce emissions, but there will be disadvantages to this. According to The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2015) stated that ‘building different kinds of renewable energy installations will increase the need for materials such as steel, aluminium, copper, concrete and a variety of rare earth metals”. There are also “renewable energy that have shorter lifespans than their conventional counterparts like wind turbines which has a lifespan of 20-25 years”, having to rebuild it after investing so much materials and money is a problem faced by the economy as well. I feel that implementing low-carbon technologies is essential but letting readers understand the negative effects it does to the environment is important as well.
Secondly, the article should have explained more about the disadvantages of solar and wind power. Calderone (2020) stated that although wind energy is more efficient and cheaper than conventional methods, the weather plays an important role in ensuring that sufficient energy is generated. Calderone also mentioned that solar panels are very expensive and the process to manufacture solar panels produce much more greenhouse gases as compared to fossil fuels. The two renewable energy sources mentioned above requires a storage system that is either too expensive or has not been invented yet. The need to explain the disadvantages to readers is important because there will always be both the positive and negative side of transiting into clean energy.
Thirdly, nuclear fusion may be the future of renewable energy but there are drawbacks to this. According to World Nuclear Association (2020), nuclear fusion involves the ‘heating of different isotopes of hydrogen to extreme temperatures of 50 million degrees Celsius, and must be kept stable under intense pressure, dense and confined long enough to allow the nuclei to fuse”. Nuclear fusion at this point of time is also very costly to implement and to generate that much of heat is also very challenging. The drawbacks of nuclear fusion must be explained in the article for readers to understand how it affects the environment negatively.
All in all, the time taken to transit into clean energy in the Southeast Asia region will vary due to the limited space and capabilities of the region. Daubach should have explained more about the disadvantages about implementing clean energy into the Southeast Asia region. By doing this, it helps to provide a fairer point of comparison and to prevent a biased opinion of the article.
Reference:
Daubach, 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/
Calderone, L. (2020, May 19). Disadvantages to using renewables over traditional fuel sources. Altenergymag.
World Nuclear Association. (2020, November). Nuclear fusion power.
The Norwegian University Of Science and Technology (NTNU). (2015, November 30). Benefits and trade-offs of low-carbon energy.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151130125019.htm
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