Summary Reader Response Draft 4 ( Clean Energy Transition )

 In the article, “How can Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition be sped up?” Daubach (2019) wrote about 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 are not suitable for the usage of solar and wind power. To add on, he 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 of transiting into clean energy compared to the discussion of the advantages, 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 Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2015), “building different kinds of renewable energy installations will increase the need for rare materials” such as steel, aluminium, copper, concrete. As “renewable energy such as wind turbines which have lifespans of 20-25 years”, having to rebuild the installations after investing so much materials and money in them is the problem faced by the economy. 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 energy methods, the weather plays an important role in ensuring that sufficient energy is generated. For instance, solar energy production relies solely on the sun.  Calderone also mentioned that solar panels are very expensive and the process to manufacture solar panels produces much more greenhouse gases as compared to fossil fuels. The two renewable energy sources mentioned above require 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.

 

Lastly, 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.” The amount of heat that is generated for nuclear fusion is very costly to implement compared to conventional methods. 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. Doing this would help to provide a fairer point of comparison and to prevent a biased opinion of the use of clean energy.

 

Reference

 

Calderone, L. (2020, May 19). Disadvantages to using renewables over traditional fuel sources. Altenergymag.

https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2020/05/disadvantages-to-using-renewables-over-traditional-fuel-sources/33096

 

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/

 

The Norwegian University Of Science and Technology. (NTNU). (2015, November 30). Benefits and trade-offs of low-carbon energy. Science Daily.com.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151130125019.htm

 

World Nuclear Association. (2020, November). Nuclear fusion power. 

https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-fusion-power.aspx