The Energy Landscape in 2020

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Introduction By 2020, the world will most likely face three vital trends that could impact on the way we generate and consume energy. The most significant trend will probably be the increasing environmental concerns across the world that forces the government to reduce their reliance on oil to generate energy. This is followed by the increasing hunger for energy from more developing or even undeveloped nations. Furthermore, the current renewable technology may also be improved and expanding at an exponential rate across the globe by 2020, making more renewable energy such as solar and nuclear energy replacing energy generated from oil. Under such circumstances, Singapore may face with various challenges but it is also a golden opportunities for Singapore to achieve sustainable economic growth and enhance its energy security. Analysis of the mega trends Environmental concern over producing energy from oil may be magnified a few times from now to 2020. This is probably a result of environmental education in school and increasing media coverage over the potential environmental impacts from the burning of fossil fuels. Even in a primary school’s textbook, we may see information such as the burning of oil to generate energy will lead to the melting of ice at two poles. When this group of people grow up six years later, it is not hard to imagine that they will demand much more from their governments, especially democratic governments, to impose measures to protect the environment by minimising the burning of fossil fuels. Unlike today’s governments in which they focus more on the interest of gigantic oil companies and MNCs (multinational corporation), governments may need to look at the interest of both groups of people six years later... ... middle of paper ... ... our country. In addition, we may also explore the opportunity of building a nuclear power plant in remote distance to ensure future energy security. Conclusion Singapore may face many challenges due to its limited land space and lack of natural resources. We may need to focus on two directions to ensure energy security and economic growth in 2020. The first is to invest heavily on renewable technologies to meet the worldwide demand for renewable energy. The second is to increase the scale of renewable energy to meet the potential shortage of energy supply. Works Cited http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/meet-stella-the-world-s/869970.html http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=SN http://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/industries/industries/alternative-energy.html

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