2020 - The Japanese Dream!

Japan is one of the countries that more consumes energy, mostly fossil energies. The consequences of being one of the most developed countries in the world are not easy to face. The price to pay for that amount of energy is too high.

This morning I read on the newspaper an article about a Japanese megalomaniac Project. Which consists, basically, in send an enormous central of photovoltaic panels to the space, where the production of electric energy would be five times more than in the Earth.

But how to send energy from the space to Earth? The scientists are thinking to use microwaves to transport energy through the space. It’s a very expensive project, and is not easy to make it possible. But it would make Japan even more developed, and the energy prices would be the lowest in the world.

Source: João Nunes in Domingo, November 15 2009

Survival of the fittest… or the luckier? - Redux

Yesterday I wrote about the use of water in dry areas of the world for all daily-life purposes. Among them was agriculture. I’d like revive the line of thought I left you with yesterday. This time to focus mainly on the resources used to create farms. Yes, farms in dry lands. 

“Fossil water also enables crops to be grown in the desert to provide food for local populations.” A curious and ingenious system is used: farms gain a circular shape due to being irrigated around a central pivot. Growing crop is not only easier, but it’s also cheaper (within the otherwise average costs. Growing food in these areas is still very expensive). Dozens of these fields are constructed next to each other; bringing short-lived hope to farmers that can spend money to grow food where otherwise would have been impossible or unprofitable. 

Circular crop farms in Kansas

Again: short-lived. This circular system is used all over the world (such as the central U.S.A.) but in remote areas as this “there’s a heavy price to pay: fossil water is a non-renewable resource. In Saudi Arabia, the dream of industrial farming has faded.” All the money invested goes to waste, as more fossil water deposits are misused and overused, leaving investors bankrupt and, “as if on a parchment map, the light spots on this patchwork show abandoned plots. The irrigation equipment is still there, the energy to pump water also, but the fossil water reserves are severely depleted.” 

Quotations from the 2009 documentary, HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.