Reader Response Draft #2
In the article, “How Can Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Transition Be Sped Up?” Ha (2019) wrote about energy experts addressing the important issue of clean energy transition in Southeast Asia. He mentioned Moniz, Chief Executive of the Energy Futures and Nuclear Threat Initiative, talking about deploying “low-carbon technologies and solutions” for energy to lower emissions in the ASEAN region. He also mentioned Moniz addressing nuclear fusion or hydrogen power as a substitute for solar and wind power in Singapore due to its lack of natural resources and land. In addition, he mentioned Wong, Group Chief Executive of utilities company Singapore Power, that Southeast Asia must consider both its consumption and production of energy. They should consider new energy sources and ways to reduce energy consumption while maintaining the same lifestyle to comply with the Paris Agreement. The article stated that ASEAN should consider replacing coal to produce energy as it produces the most greenhouse gases. He also mentioned that Moniz proposed to reduce costs in the power, industrial, and transportation sectors to be able to transition towards renewable energy. In terms of energy focus, Singapore should consider implementing methods such as solar power and nuclear fusion to reduce carbon footprints impacting global warming.
Firstly, Singapore has implemented solar energy methods. In the article “Solar shines as Singapore's energy alternative; international collaboration is key” Tan (2021) mentioned that Singapore has deployed the usage of solar panels at Marina Barrage where deployment is expected to quadruple by 2025, with a goal of 1.5 GWp by 2025 and at least 2 GWp by 2030. Tan then mentioned that by 2030, this corresponds to around 350,000 households being powered each year, or about 3% of the total estimated energy usage. This means that Singapore has plans to transition towards using clean energy for the future. In another article, “Singapore Meets Its 2020 Solar Deployment Target” JTC (2020), solar panels would be installed along industrial land and rooftops as an initiative towards transitioning to clean energy. The initiation is expected to provide over 82MWp of solar energy capacity to the 2030 national objective, generating over 78,000MWh of electricity to power over 14,600 households and reducing over 32,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. Despite its dearth of land, Singapore, in my opinion, is making the most of every square inch available to maximise the usage of solar panels to convert electricity.
Secondly, fusion power has the potential to provide a practically limitless source of energy for future generations. The article “Fusion in brief” Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (2021) talks about the benefits of implementing nuclear fusion. According to the article, nuclear fusion does not produce carbon emissions and is energy efficient, which makes it a perfect option as a form of clean energy. Not only does it run on lithium, which is an abundant element found around the world, it is also safer and produces lesser radioactive materials than nuclear fission.
Although using clean energy has its benefits, it still has its limitations. Each solar panel cell is only limited to how much energy it is able to generate into energy. In addition, due to Singapore's dense cloud cover and urban shadows, it causes problems like intermittency. This results in Singapore being unable to dependably generate enough baseload electricity from renewable sources. Having nuclear fusion power is definitely a good source of energy for Singapore as it only requires a small portion of land to be able to generate an enormous amount of clean energy. Despite the benefits of nuclear fusion energy, nuclear fusion has its drawbacks. The option of having fusion power is limited as it is still in the research stage and it is unstable. Furthermore, nuclear fusion requires a huge amount of investment and ingenuity to make it practical and cost-effective. This results in fusion energy being a decadal-scale hurdle before becoming a viable source of energy.
Hence, while clean energy is the solution to reducing carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, both energy sources have limitations and drawbacks in what they can do in today's world. Despite the setbacks, progress is still being achieved every year with the technologies available.
Reference List:
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/
Tan, E. (2021). Solar shines as Singapore’s energy alternative; international collaboration is key. The Business Times; The Business Times. https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/solar-shines-as-singapores-energy-alternative-international-collaboration-is-key
Singapore Meets Its 2020 Solar Deployment Target (2020). JTC. https://www.jtc.gov.sg/about-jtc/news-and-stories/press-releases/singapore-meets-its-2020-solar-deployment-target#:~:text=The%20solar%20installation%20that%20helped,and%20operated%20by%20Sembcorp%20Industries
Fusion in brief. (2021, October 20). Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/fusion-energy/fusion-in-brief/
Firstly, Singapore has implemented solar energy methods. In the article “Solar shines as Singapore's energy alternative; international collaboration is key” Tan (2021) mentioned that Singapore has deployed the usage of solar panels at Marina Barrage where deployment is expected to quadruple by 2025, with a goal of 1.5 GWp by 2025 and at least 2 GWp by 2030. Tan then mentioned that by 2030, this corresponds to around 350,000 households being powered each year, or about 3% of the total estimated energy usage. This means that Singapore has plans to transition towards using clean energy for the future. In another article, “Singapore Meets Its 2020 Solar Deployment Target” JTC (2020), solar panels would be installed along industrial land and rooftops as an initiative towards transitioning to clean energy. The initiation is expected to provide over 82MWp of solar energy capacity to the 2030 national objective, generating over 78,000MWh of electricity to power over 14,600 households and reducing over 32,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. Despite its dearth of land, Singapore, in my opinion, is making the most of every square inch available to maximise the usage of solar panels to convert electricity.
Secondly, fusion power has the potential to provide a practically limitless source of energy for future generations. The article “Fusion in brief” Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (2021) talks about the benefits of implementing nuclear fusion. According to the article, nuclear fusion does not produce carbon emissions and is energy efficient, which makes it a perfect option as a form of clean energy. Not only does it run on lithium, which is an abundant element found around the world, it is also safer and produces lesser radioactive materials than nuclear fission.
Although using clean energy has its benefits, it still has its limitations. Each solar panel cell is only limited to how much energy it is able to generate into energy. In addition, due to Singapore's dense cloud cover and urban shadows, it causes problems like intermittency. This results in Singapore being unable to dependably generate enough baseload electricity from renewable sources. Having nuclear fusion power is definitely a good source of energy for Singapore as it only requires a small portion of land to be able to generate an enormous amount of clean energy. Despite the benefits of nuclear fusion energy, nuclear fusion has its drawbacks. The option of having fusion power is limited as it is still in the research stage and it is unstable. Furthermore, nuclear fusion requires a huge amount of investment and ingenuity to make it practical and cost-effective. This results in fusion energy being a decadal-scale hurdle before becoming a viable source of energy.
Hence, while clean energy is the solution to reducing carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, both energy sources have limitations and drawbacks in what they can do in today's world. Despite the setbacks, progress is still being achieved every year with the technologies available.
Reference List:
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/
Tan, E. (2021). Solar shines as Singapore’s energy alternative; international collaboration is key. The Business Times; The Business Times. https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/solar-shines-as-singapores-energy-alternative-international-collaboration-is-key
Singapore Meets Its 2020 Solar Deployment Target (2020). JTC. https://www.jtc.gov.sg/about-jtc/news-and-stories/press-releases/singapore-meets-its-2020-solar-deployment-target#:~:text=The%20solar%20installation%20that%20helped,and%20operated%20by%20Sembcorp%20Industries
Fusion in brief. (2021, October 20). Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/fusion-energy/fusion-in-brief/
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