Solar revolution

 Solar Revolution.

The four biggest challenges of the 21st century, is population growth, food security, energy security,

and climate change.

These challenges are considerable, but not insurmountable.

There are practical solutions available.

The fifth, and possibly the biggest challenge, is complacency.

We must change the way we live.

Status quo is not an option.                                                            

The depletion of Earth’s finite natural resources will lead to sustainability being the key economic driver.

Growth should no longer be in the economic driver. 

The new policy should be to reduce, reuse and recycle.

This cannot be achieved by relying on market forces alone.

The science of what needs to be done, is well understood.

To translate this into a commercial proposition is totalling lacking.

There is a clear role for governments to play, both nationally and globally.

Policy should be holistic and international in scope.

Stabilising population growth is a priority.

Family planning by better education, is vital, specially in developing countries.

Educating girls would help achieve this objective.

Developed countries have to start paying prices, which reflects the true cost, of the resources, 

they take from the developing world. 

It should aim to recycle everything that is possible.

We need to make a transition from a carbon dependent economy, to a solar dependent economy.

We need to continue to invest in solar, wind, hydro and other renewable forms of energy.

We need to increase the global nuclear fission capacity by three times in 30 years.

There is no alternative to this.

Nuclear is the only scaleable alternative to fossil fuels, which does not suffer from intermittency.

Nuclear needs to be made more safer.

Nuclear fusion can provide much more energy than any other technology.

The fuel is abundant, and has the potential to provide energy for millions of years.

We need to spend maybe a trillion dollars for research, to find out whether it will work.

Still there will not be any guarantee, that it will succeed.

Research into all aspects of solar energy, photovoltaics, photosynthesis, 

and liquid fuels has to be done in a globally co-ordinated way.

Solar should not be viewed as “nice to have” energy, but a “must have” energy.

Wasting of food should no longer be acceptable.

A global agricultural policy of high-tech farming and GM crops, 

will allow us to sustain a global population of 10 billion.

Food needs to be grown locally.

The use of meat and dairy as food, has to be reduced drastically.

Using grain for animal feed, is an inefficient luxury that we cannot afford.

Food production needs to be decoupled from oil.

GM can reduce the reliance on petrochemicals for herbicide and pesticides.

Organic farming techniques can be incorporated into regular farming.

Reducing consumption and using resources more efficiently, 

would be an important strategy for sustainability.

We use 7 times as much water as we did in 1900s.

We produce 16 times the number of manufactured goods.

We transport goods by aeroplanes for over 1.5 trillion passenger air miles every year.

80% of the goods we produce are used just once, and discarded.

The culture of reducing consumption has to become ingrained.

We need to get rid of the habit of wasting.

We need to recycle, almost everything we use.

About 350 years ago mankind was beholden to the solar cycle.

It is inevitable that we return to this situation in the near future.