Solar Solution To Potential WWIII-We Need Your Help!
Dear Friends/Readers/Visitors/Viewers,
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To have the full appreciation of today’s topic, please be sure you have already viewed the post and listened to the video clip of our Jan. 4, 2013 post.
Back in July of 2012, China was mulling over the possibility of raising its 2015 photovoltaic target to over 25 GW. With the concern over sovereignty issue (truthfully, it is an issue over oil reserves) involving Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, need of clean energy sources, and the need to make their economic growth less dependent on fossil fuel, in January of 2013, China is now aiming to add 10 GW (gigawatts) of installed solar power capacity and 18 GW of installed wind power capacity this year alone. For a table of China’s renewable energy targets for 2015 and 2020, please click on Reuters.
Truly, the real solution to China’s dispute with Japan does not lie in ownership of some rocks of uninhabited islands, but in alternative clean fuel sources such as solar and wind energy. As I’ve repeatedly written, solar energy is: cleaner, safer, healthier, more readily available, with great sense of timing, and requires fewer moving parts (in March 4, 2011 post) than fossil fuel or oil. If one factors into the cost of potential WWIII/nuclear war, it is no wonder the wise leaders in China would have great incentive to increase the rate of installations for solar PV and wind.
Since our initial discussion originated from the territorial row over Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, let’s take a closer look at the cause of the problem numerically. It is, in essence, a row over the promised potential of accessing 100 billion barrels of oil in that region. But the burning of fossil fuel/oil really would not help the already polluted air quality of either China or Japan. So, it is a matter of energy/fuel that they are fighting over. To have a more clear picture of the situation, please view the video clip below of Michael Klare, Five Colleges professor of peace and world security studies:
- Calculate what is the # of solar PV installations needed in order to generate equivalent amount of watts that can be generated from 100 billion barrels of oil. (assumptions: A. solar energy collected over 30 year period B. each solar PV is able to collect solar energy at the rate of 5 hours per day) and email me your results. I implore all instructors in junior high, high schools, colleges, universities (esp. those of you teaching math and science related subjects) any where on this planet earth to participate in this activity. After such an exercise of calculations, perhaps you will start to understand why I’ve been impatient with the rate at which our solar industry/ installations had been growing. Even though solar industry had been growing tremendously, it needs to be growing much faster in order to outpace the potential of wars (over oil reserves) among nations.
- Encourage your local schools, churches, factories, stores, Walmarts, libraries, homes, hospitals, Y’s, governments to install solar PV and to implement Feed-In-Tariff for Renewable Energy (inclusive of solar and wind). Only when we have truly moved on to renewable energy, we have then taken away the incentive or need to fight over oil reserves/petroleum. Any time any two countries may entangle in a battle for oil reserves/fields, there lies the detonator for potential WWIII or nuclear war. Fellow earthlings, I believe it is in all of our interests to participate in encouraging the move toward renewable energy (esp. that of solar energy).
- Spread the use and viewing of www.sunisthefuture.net and sunisthefuture Youtube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture to help others to realize that solar energy will be able to propel our vehicles (cars, planes, trains, or boats) and operate/run our homes. We don’t need to fight over oil/petroleum. We want a healthier, cleaner, and safer world through conserving and solar living!
We are in a transitional period when wise, ethical, and skillful international diplomatic politicians are desperately needed who will not only be able to negotiate the last few barrels of oil (without triggering any war), but also be able to convince our government to shift one quarter of our military budget toward research and development in energy alternatives (as suggested by Michael Klare), and cooperate with China for research and development for renewable energy in the coming century. So we will be able to carry out the most moral and patriotic American path for our future generations. So U.S. and China (users of half of earth’s energy and producers of half of the earth’s CO2 by 2030) will go down in history not as plunderers of the planet earth but rescuers of the planet earth who worked cooperatively in finding solutions to earth’s energy and pollution problems.
~may we all have a brighter and sunnier tomorrow~
Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Your questions/suggestions/comments are always welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net
Tags: China, Diaoyu Islands, feed-in-tariff, Five Colleges professor, Michael Klare, nuclear war, oil reserves, peace and world security studies, renewables, Reuters, Senkaku Islands, solar, solar PV, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker, wind, WWIII