Technology and Sustainability

Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Course CE293A: Technology and Society

Title Sustainability of Unlimited Electricity Supply

Date November 1, 2006

Presenters Christoph Gebald

Presentation   Sustainability of Unlimited Electricity Supply

Reading Material   American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security

Questions
1) The Stone Age did not end for lack of stones, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil (Sheikh Yamani, former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia). Do you think Sheikh Yamani's quotation is right? What can we do to accelerate the switching to renewable technology?

2) Assuming the world electricity demand is secured by both, centralized and decentralized renewable energy power plants, who should be owner of the centralized power plants?

3) Sustainable development includes a world without wars, conflicts and violation of human rights. Does the use of renewable energy power plants decrease energy related conflicts or does it evoke new ones?

Title	Sustainability of Unlimited Electricity Supply
Date	November 1, 2006
Presenters	Christoph Gebald
Presentation	Sustainability of Unlimited Electricity Supply
Reading Material	American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security
Questions	1) The Stone Age did not end for lack of stones, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil (Sheikh Yamani, former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia). Do you think Sheikh Yamani's quotation is right? What can we do to accelerate the switching to renewable technology? 2) Assuming the world electricity demand is secured by both, centralized and decentralized renewable energy power plants, who should be owner of the centralized power plants? 3) Sustainable development includes a world without wars, conflicts and violation of human rights. Does the use of renewable energy power plants decrease energy related conflicts or does it evoke new ones?