Week 1 Review 29/06/08

Green energy plan 'will force more families into fuel poverty'
By James Kirkup and Paul Ecclestone
Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Review:

In the article, it was mentioned that 4million households are in fuel poverty in the United Kingdoms (UK). According to Wikipedia, the UK Fuel poverty is said to occur when in order to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income on total fuel use. Even in a relatively developed country like the UK, so many people are still unable to cope with the rising fuel prices. This fact has indicated that our reliance on fossil fuels for our daily needs has become too great and now it will be difficult to stop the addiction. The first massive industrial use of fossil fuels had started in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, has made Britain one of the strongest economic power in the world. Now, some 200 years later, the UK is suffering from social, economic and environmental problems from the over reliance on fossil fuels. The lesson here is that fossil fuels powers industrialization and modernization but never rely on it for a long term usage.

The UK has learnt from its mistakes too late. Moving to renewable resources now will only add extra costs to the already expensive fossil fuel. The funds required to build new energy plants that harness natural energy from renewable sources are exorbitant. To be able to build those, the only easy solution is to tax the populace more. However, doing so will add on to the burden of low-income households. It seems that the UK situation is in a stalemate where doing nothing will cause future generations to suffer and shifting to renewable energy will make millions of homes feel the crunch. Relating this to Singapore, the government has recently pledge millions of dollars to subsidize costs of installing solar heater and panels. However, Singapore is still largely dependent on fossil fuels for electricity production and has no efficient ways of harnessing renewable energy on a large scale. Not all is gone, as the recent boom in Singapore's green technology Research and Development sector still presents some hope that one day Singapore will shrug off the reliance on fossil fuels.

Shortage of fuel had indeed bring many problem to lower income group , by spending more on Green research a short term solution as the burden on the lower income group will only be heavier and not lessen. By researching on Green industries and not relieve the shortages of fuel straight away as it may take a very long time for research to have it's result. Hence to help the lower income group a short term solution must be present first before imposing the long-term solution. Short-term solution such as providing subsidize could be given to the lower income group to decrease or reduce their burden.


From Yong Ying

It's very difficult for the government to stop oil prices from growing but they can come up with measures to minimize or alleviate the consequences of this global phenonmenon. And yes, I do agree that by taxing the population, this causes a larger burden on the lower income group. This may in turn cause the income distribution to widen. It is, however, very costly and unsuitable for Singapore to generate thermal, solar and nuclear energies effectively, but it can be possible in the long term, where advanced technology comes in.

anyway, it's a good article.

i just read a article yesterday that says Iraq has a lot of oil reserves and this may help to increase the world oil production. This may be able to lower the global oil prices for a short time. So i think that the government should use this short period of time to think of a long term solution. Perhaps with the Iraq oil, it might help to lessen the people's burden for some time being? but the problem is: is it safe to enter Iraq now? haha

its true that environment-friendly fuels are expensive, but overtime, its costly price will be affordable if the demand for these fuels increases in the global market, and one should consider the massive reductions in our wasteful daily fuel consumption if these actions were to be practised internationally and how our planet's future and mankind, can be saved at a small price.
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For many of the developed countries, their growth has been dependent on the use of fossil fuel. All the energy harvested is used to sustain the high standard of living for the people and the economic development of its industries. Yes, it is clearly an addiction since most governments refused to take the matter seriously till the recent years. Thus, i also believe that the mindset of the people has to be changed at a pace that people would be comfortable with so that they will be able to manage the inevitable increase in energy bill annual. This is life, face it.