The motives that led us to believe in - and develop renewable energies

by Christophe David and Ben Breuer

Sooner or later humanity will have to say goodbye to the fossil sources of energy, because they are all limited and bound to run out someday. And it seems probable, that global warming and the subsequent governmental regulations will urge the world to make the transition to renewable energies even sooner.

But no need to worry, the sun provides more than enough energy: experts calculated that the solar energy absorbed by a surface of 200 square kilometres in the Sahara would suffice to cover the energy demand for the whole world (if it was converted and transported efficiently). But this is not even necessary, because the sun shines everywhere and additionally powers the wind and the waves.

If the wind energy potential was used world wide, wind energy could supply 30% of the worldwide electricity by 2030 and this estimation includes the increasing electricity demand. If the collective efforts and resources were concentrated on the resolution of the energy problem, like they were concentrated on space travel under Kennedy, the problem would soon be solved with a combination of existing and new sustainable technologies.

Now is the time to act, to take initiatives to stop global warming and grow independent from fossil energy sources. Energy crises like the one experienced in 2008 could be avoided, and the health of our economy could be detached from rising oil prices. People trying to Stop the building of wind farms today, will regret this tomorrow, when energy prices will increase to levels beyond imagination. Because the oil and gas oligopolies will raise the prices as high as they can, and without alternatives, there is no limit to the prices.

The same holds for Uranium, as demand will increase and reserves will decrease, the exporters will capitalize on the others dependency.

The credit crunch - what were the real reasons for the financial crisis?

It is amazing, how economists and experts see greed and misjudgement of managers as the single reasons for the financial crisis, when the triplication of the oil price within a couple of months clearly had a huge impact on the economy too. The US economy was hit particularly hard by the explosion of the oil price, much more so than Europe, because energy efficiency was always neglected in the US due to the cheap oil prices and the assumption that it would last an eternity. Cars are a good example of this energy waste; while European cars were constantly improved for fuel economy (because of the high taxes on gas), the American gas guzzlers were getting bigger and more powerful, decreasing the fuel economy.

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