At the end of this project - but still at the beginning of the challenge !?
During this project we have established various aspects of energy. We showed you where it came from, where it comes from and from where it might come soon. At the examples we gave you concerning the Renewable sources of energy we explained you the complexity of the topic and thus the resulting difficulty of actually achieving the goal for our future and with the summary of our current situation we tried to explain you why we are still at this point.
Fossil fuels as we found out are still the basis for our energy supply system and that is for many reasons. And the big one is perhaps the fact that you can make more money with a system that is based on exploitation and waste rather than on a sustainable management of our planet. Although there are various undeniable signs that fossil fuels are about to take and end we still invest money into the quest for new sources accepting decreasing accessibility and thus increasing costs. What's more is that we ignore the unmistakably increasing amount of natural catastrophes like the earthquakes in Japan, the hurricanes in the United States, the floods in India the list goes on and on with us still thinking that climate change is a pessimists born nightmare which has nothing to do with reality and therefore we continue increasing our energy consumption.
Better still we do have the financial potential to get rid of fossil fuels, since they devour six times more subsidies than renewable energies do http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-09/renewable-energy-subsidies-worldwide-reached-57-billion-in-2009-iea-says.html( comp. ).
Furthermore we proofed that Renewable sources of Energy are a good alternative to the old system. With the Desertec project we did not only learn that solar thermal plants are a great way to generate cheap electricity but also that it is possible to combine the renewable sources of energy in a larger scale with the comfortable effect that the operation of different renewable sources of energy balances the system out and helps preventing blackouts. With the Nejavellir geothermal power plant we explained you the great potential of this simple and safe way of generating electricity as well as hot water for the surrounding cities and with Galloper and Greater Gabbard we showed to you that you can actually achieve high output figures of more than 1 Gigawatt without taking the risks that a hydro-electric dam would bring into the game.
Concluding this project one must realize the comic tragedy that we seem to be stuck in. We have the potential in technological and financial matters but we simply do nothing to make the change. Maybe we need a little push, a shock a wake-up from an unpleasant dream to accept the situation that we are constantly pushing ourselves into a future that is full of problems. But this would need to be combined with the implementing of the consequences resulting from that. We would need to accept that we will have to lower our energy consumption in order to have the luxury of using energy at all if you look over a long-term perspective.
The role of this project is just that to inform the people about the urgency of this global challenge for our century . We are living in a time in which it should be our first priority to set the course to a better future, because nobody knows how long we will have the potential to do the change without dramatic blackouts and short-cuts.
So we ask you to start making the change, since it has to be us. If we do not find the courage to fulfil the change nobody will find it. One must not forget that the energy companies supply us with the energy we want. And if nobody would buy the cheap and dirty energy anymore they would be forced to change their attitudes towards renewable sources of energy. However if we do not do that and still buy their fossil fuels they will find some lobbyists in the government to guarantee the subsidies for fossil fuels and dig deeper to find the last dribble of crude oil on the planet.
So if you get up tomorrow to get your car out of the garage maybe think again and take your bike, and if you have the choice between an apple that has travelled the earth longer than you have maybe ride the extra mile to the local farm and buy an apple that you know has grown on a tree and not in a cooled container. It really is those tiny differences that make the change. And we do urgently need that change . . .
Fossil fuels as we found out are still the basis for our energy supply system and that is for many reasons. And the big one is perhaps the fact that you can make more money with a system that is based on exploitation and waste rather than on a sustainable management of our planet. Although there are various undeniable signs that fossil fuels are about to take and end we still invest money into the quest for new sources accepting decreasing accessibility and thus increasing costs. What's more is that we ignore the unmistakably increasing amount of natural catastrophes like the earthquakes in Japan, the hurricanes in the United States, the floods in India the list goes on and on with us still thinking that climate change is a pessimists born nightmare which has nothing to do with reality and therefore we continue increasing our energy consumption.
Better still we do have the financial potential to get rid of fossil fuels, since they devour six times more subsidies than renewable energies do http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-09/renewable-energy-subsidies-worldwide-reached-57-billion-in-2009-iea-says.html( comp. ).
Furthermore we proofed that Renewable sources of Energy are a good alternative to the old system. With the Desertec project we did not only learn that solar thermal plants are a great way to generate cheap electricity but also that it is possible to combine the renewable sources of energy in a larger scale with the comfortable effect that the operation of different renewable sources of energy balances the system out and helps preventing blackouts. With the Nejavellir geothermal power plant we explained you the great potential of this simple and safe way of generating electricity as well as hot water for the surrounding cities and with Galloper and Greater Gabbard we showed to you that you can actually achieve high output figures of more than 1 Gigawatt without taking the risks that a hydro-electric dam would bring into the game.
Concluding this project one must realize the comic tragedy that we seem to be stuck in. We have the potential in technological and financial matters but we simply do nothing to make the change. Maybe we need a little push, a shock a wake-up from an unpleasant dream to accept the situation that we are constantly pushing ourselves into a future that is full of problems. But this would need to be combined with the implementing of the consequences resulting from that. We would need to accept that we will have to lower our energy consumption in order to have the luxury of using energy at all if you look over a long-term perspective.
The role of this project is just that to inform the people about the urgency of this global challenge for our century . We are living in a time in which it should be our first priority to set the course to a better future, because nobody knows how long we will have the potential to do the change without dramatic blackouts and short-cuts.
So we ask you to start making the change, since it has to be us. If we do not find the courage to fulfil the change nobody will find it. One must not forget that the energy companies supply us with the energy we want. And if nobody would buy the cheap and dirty energy anymore they would be forced to change their attitudes towards renewable sources of energy. However if we do not do that and still buy their fossil fuels they will find some lobbyists in the government to guarantee the subsidies for fossil fuels and dig deeper to find the last dribble of crude oil on the planet.
So if you get up tomorrow to get your car out of the garage maybe think again and take your bike, and if you have the choice between an apple that has travelled the earth longer than you have maybe ride the extra mile to the local farm and buy an apple that you know has grown on a tree and not in a cooled container. It really is those tiny differences that make the change. And we do urgently need that change . . .