EG1471 e-portfolio 3

On 30th January, three lecturers had shared with us, their thoughts about some current issues which, I found, quite interesting and motivating. One of the lecturers was Professor Palmer, what he had presented was a short talk about new technology and policies that are planned to reduce the effect of global warming. Next, we had Dr Sevacool to explain to us the reason why people resist new technology, and lastly, Professor Rajasekhar told us about the ways to deal with large scale environmental problems.

Professor Palmer started the lecture by explaining some current statistics about carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, and then proceed to show us two new technology created by scientists to try solve the effect of global warming. One of the approaches is, scientists planned to capture carbon dioxide in the air and store them in depleted oil or gas field underground or under the ocean. A thin membrane will be made to bound the liquefied carbon dioxide, prevent them from acidifying the sea water. The other way is, to pump sulfur into the atmosphere to reduce Earth’s temperature.

Dr. Sevacool was next to explain the fact that the success of a technology is depending on social factors, not the quality of the technology. He gave the example of electrical vehicles invented in the early 19’s to explain how economic, politic and social cause the downfall of the production of electrical vehicles. Firstly, economic challenges like declining cost of oil and mass production of gasoline vehicles by Henry Ford reduced the market for electrical vehicles. Political challenges like the mass requirement of gasoline vehicles rather than electrical vehicles in World War 1 due to shortage of coal and rail congestion. Lastly, social challenges like argument of privacy during travelling and the safety travelling in electrical vehicles.

Professor Rajasekhar had stressed on the effect of global warming and pointed to us the main approach to reduce climate changes is to target on reduction of green houses gasses. He suggested some solutions to the problem such as, all countries shall cooperate internationally on policies like taxes on green house gas emission, increase of energy efficiency and subsidize for renewable energy.

It is quite surprising to know the idea of carbon storage, because I had never realized that carbon dioxide can be gathered in this way. I also found the fact which electrical vehicles is actually eco-friendly quite interesting, imagine the world with only electrical vehicles running on the road, maybe we will not be troubled by global warming. There are also some inspiring words from Professor Rajasekhar, like “Think globally and act locally” which makes me like the lecture so much.