how does this affect us? anyone care to comment?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL3071503920071130
price of food crops will go UP as more land are used for biofuel corps rather than for food.....
its just a plant or refinery...most likely to be sg getting some of the profits from it
Originally posted by Combatus:price of food crops will go UP as more land are used for biofuel corps rather than for food.....
There are lots of lan in the world. why the worry?
growing crops and plants also contribute to the environment..u are not totally destrying it..
Originally posted by Melbournite:There are lots of lan in the world. why the worry?
growing crops and plants also contribute to the environment..u are not totally destrying it..
Solar, wave and nuclear power are said to be technologically viable but are still expensive and countries which turn to it have not made much headway. Why no decisions or planning on use of such power ? If we don't plan we will be left technologically backward. We need to have macro-thinkers in this area which know all the viability and feasibility and practicality to take charge of our future needs and don't wait until we are too late and economy goes down before such actions.
To begin with we can set up set policy like targeting to reach a 10% solar energy by year 2018 so that a pilot project can be started to have a smaller power plant generating small KW to be connected to small network to supply certain power needs in order that by 2018 we could fully take advantage of our stronger sunlight in tropical location to supply up to 10% of our needs.
All night lighting and small electricity needs from fans to public lighting and small pumps for occasional pumping of basement sewage to watering of plants and agro-based farming can turn to such electricity supply of below 20 KW.
China has a widespread usage of alternative energy source including wind power and incineration power at various locations. Circumstances will be forcing China and US to convert power stations as hinted by its leaders recently to supplement the current oil-based station due to high cost of oil. It cannot keep using oil to power their economy especially after the recent severe crisis happening to their economy. It will take a macro thinker of calibre to convert to nuclear energy full scale.
If US and China turn to such source of energy the world will shift again and we will be the sucker to all of them again because of our lack of a macro economic planner at the very top to plan and oversee such energy conversion which may be even more important than having another finance minister knowing how to count monies and tax people to no end.
Why not solar/wind/nuclear ?
Simply because there will be no need to pump liquid fuel into tanks.
Oil companies will see $$$ fly out the windows. They will do what they can to lobby against it.
Biofuel ..is still liquid fuel.
Solar/Wind/Nuclear are energy obtainable from a plug.
Recently....
Oil companies reported earnings of several Billions.. in times of oil price inflation.
We the people are suckers.
And since Biofuels are "Renewable" resources.. it's the most viable option for everyone.
errmmm...
let me make a wild guess...
with selling to private sector company, i think maybe, the CEO is accountable for his actions and disclose the books to investors?
Originally posted by abao:Wind power is the way to go in replacing 10-30% of our power usage... Biofuels doesnt really help since they use up food we need to eat and is nearly as polluting... I find it meaningless to use Biofuels unless its those unused bits such as the stalk of the corn.
Come to think of it, if Solar power can be improved then it would also be a viable option.
Nuclear is still too dangerous for small Singapore coz we got no place to put the plant.
Where are you going to find the land area large enough to build a wind farm that will provide 10% of the electricity? Have you tried figuring that out?
Based on the stuff that I have seen on energy websites, given the land area that we have, this does not appear to be a realistic target.
Also, given that wind is intermittent, it is at best useful for so-called 'peaker plants' that handle demand spikes, rather than for baseload operations.
The trouble is precisely what you have just said - before any strategic master planning even is allowed a chance to be put on some drawing board, our leaders of the present breed tend to think too much of the negatives like short of land, short of wind, short of talents.
Ever since people like GKS or Lim Kim San the gung ho type we have only people who keep giving excuses and cannot think out of the box.
At times we need to let certain nitty gritty take its course. Someone more creative and entrepreneurial will come to solve such "negatives and cannot"
Don't brush off good ideas by shouting them down. Give the people who come up with ideas more gestations and more brainstorming motivation so that at the appropriate time the idea gets its practicality to be implemented.