Session 8 : Past present and future of energy and world change

Executive summary

Today we talked about the past, the present and the future of energy. We talked about how energy transformed from fossil fuels to the green technology that we are currently using right now. Right now we are looking at a scenario where everyone is focusing on new methods and framework to improve their energy efficiency. Prof also mentioned the following : The days of fossil fuels are numbered. Renewable energy will drive the green revolution

Interesting observations and ideas

Today there was this presentation about using kites to generate energy. It came as a shock to me that something as simple as a kite could actually be used to generate energy! This presentation is so interesting because it introduced to us a whole new concept of generation of energy from the wind by using kites instead of the conventional wind mails or the high tech wind turbines. However one short fall of this technology is the usage of huge amounts of air space. There is a short fall to any technology and I believe that it is only through proper investment of research and development that will minimize the shortfalls. I feel that this idea has great potential and it needs to be further developed in order for us to benefit fully from it.


Key Takeaways:

Today’s take away message is very simple. We have to constantly seek new ways to ensure that our energy is renewable and that our energy remains clean. The only way for energy to be renewable is that we adopt a cyclical model of energy consumption instead of a linear one. A cyclical model is one which is self sustainable and that we will not be using up the energy source. Examples would be by tapping into natural resources like the sunlight or the wind. Keeping the energy clean entails that we leave the minimal carbon footprint on the planet. Only through a combination of these two factors will we move towards the right direction of energy consumption

Issues for further discussion

I would like prof to talk about renewable energy from the moon! Currently there are on going efforts to install solar panels on to the surface of the moon to harness on the sunlight from the sun.


Personal ratings

I would rate today’s lesson 8 out of 10. It was really an eye opening session for me!