Summary of the lecture on 30 Jan

The presentations are beneficial and interesting to me. The speakers talked about climate change or energy problems from different points of view and with different approaches. After the speech, I digested the knowledge given and summarized the main ideas they presented based on my own understanding.
The first presentation: Carbon dioxide capture and storage: Technology and Politics, was given by Professor Andrew Palmer, Department of Civil Engineering, NUS. He started the presentation by pointing out one of the perceived priority change: global warming is actually happening. Then what is the response to climate change? One important response is to capture and store carbon dioxide. He focused on the actions to reduce carbon dioxide: One is to store carbon dioxide in depleted oil/gas field; the other is to store carbon dioxide in ocean. These 2 methods sound simple and I am really interested in how to actually execute them. The following question is will carbon dioxide capture and storage really happen? It depends on political will. In the end, he also pointed out the advantages and disadvantages for spreading particles in upper atmosphere.
The second presentation: Using STS (Science & Technology Studies) to Address Energy (and Technological) Problems, was given by Assistant Professor Benjamin K.Sovacool, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. His presentation was started by a quick introduction to STS with traditional approach and social science system approach. I found the social science approach interesting because it places the technology as part of the social system. In another word, he inter-connected the technology with social system which I thought they are isolated. Then he gave us two case studies –Renewable Power and Electric Vehicle to prove his point of view. Sometimes the failure of certain technologies has nothing to do with its technical feasibility but the social factors.
The last presentation: Climate Change - Assessment and Mitigation, was given by Professor Rajasekhar Bala, Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, NUS. He started presentation by showing us 4 graphs clearly indicated the rising of average global temperature. Global warming is indeed happening and is related to greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. The consequences for global warming are bad but maybe a few countries will benefit. How to prevent global warming? Prof Bala focused on the Government’s responsibilities and what we can do as individuals. I found the last part useful and interesting. Global warming is a huge thing and normally we will just skip it and leave it to Government. But it is not right to do that. Prof Bala’s presentation provided an answer to us as individual.
I really learned a lot through this lecture. In the end I decided to do my own part to protect our earth.