Which Wedge Would We Wager With?

The short film, Power Surge, produced by Nova discusses the current energy crisis and the different ways of addressing the problem. Since the Industrial Revolution, global society has been advancing technologies, which greatly increases energy consumption. Carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions have skyrocketed as a result of the increased energy consumption through the burning of fossil fuels. The human population is now reaching the point where these emissions are affecting the climate and atmosphere. The key to solving this problem and ensuring that an energy shortage is not reached is to reduce fossil energy reliance with a wide range of new energy sources. Exploiting a combination of renewable energy technologies and creating reasonable goals can solve the energy crisis solved in incremental steps. Stephen Pacala, an environmental biologist at Princeton University, broke down the problem into an easily understandable called The Wedge Game. The trend line of carbon emissions is exponentially increasing and it needs to be leveled off to solve the problem. The triangle created by the trend line and the leveled off line represents 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Pacala proposes to break this amount into seven 1 billion ton sections that can be tackled individually using multiple technologies over the years leading up to 2050. The technology needed to remove 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide already exists, so the real solution is to choose which technologies to use and how to economically implement them. The technologies proposed are increasing efficiency, tripling the number of nuclear plants, cleaning coal production and harnessing the sun’s energy through solar, wind and biomass. 

I believe that Power Surge presents an extremely valid argument and plan for tackling the energy and climate change crisis that society is currently facing. By breaking it down into manageable parts, it gives perspective, as well as hope that a solution can be reached. I agree that change must be gradual and that we cannot expect to completely switch to renewable energy in just a few short years. Changing efficiency standards is an obvious, effective way of reducing the population’s carbon footprint. Solar resources are another obvious source, but are costly and are not extremely efficient yet. Further technologies will help make solar and wind more feasible and will gradually be integrated into the landscape. Furthermore, solar is the ultimate future of energy because the sun’s radiation is vast energy source that will not run out in the foreseeable future. Although nuclear energy is not a permanent solution because uranium is a finite resource, it is a feasible stepping-stone to reduce dependence on fossil energy. The standardization of nuclear plant parts will make them much safer and easier to maintenance. Unfortunately, nuclear power produces heat emissions, as well as radioactive waste that is not easily dealt with. By cleaning the emissions of coal plants through scrubbing and storing carbon dioxide underground, we will not only greatly reduce carbon emissions, we will also be creating a storage of carbon dioxide for the future. I realize that we currently do not have any use for a giant storage tank of CO2, but we could potentially create technology in the future to either recreate fossil fuels or a way to harness energy from CO2 breakdown.

When anyone is proposing potential ways to change future habits to help fix any type of problem, they are not only projecting the direct results of the change, but also the impacts it has on society, the economy, and the environment. Power Surge recognizes the fact that many people are resistant to developing renewable energies with the “not in my backyard” attitude, but if no one accepts them, then everyone’s backyard is going to be ruined anyways. Most people also do not want to pay for new technologies, either. Most renewables are an investment with a high capital cost, which makes large-scale implementation much more difficult. Regarding the environment, the proposed solutions will obviously reduce carbon emissions and help to curb our effects on global warming, but every action has a reaction. We cannot truly predict the long-term environmental impacts of new technologies.