Thursday, February 5, 2009

Solar energy in Sahara?

We hear about that a rather small area of the Sahara desert would suffice for the whole European energy needs. This is still more an theoretical example to show the pootential of solar energy, rather than a real proposal. But the example also shows that the pattern of colonialist thinking doesn't disappear so easily.

Now, we don't want these people here in "our" Europe. We are afraid of their habits, culture and religion as well as the possible impact on our salaries and jobs. But we do, once again, see that they might have something that we could use and then we are all for "cooperation".

Why would we not cover parts of Spain, Italy or Greece with those solar panels? If the Libyans and Algerians could produce cheap electricity with solar panels, wouldn't it make more sense to use that electricity to desalinate water and use for irrigation, and sell that grain to the hungry Europeans? Or for them to produce the aluminium of the world, or the chemical fertiliser....

It is tiring that Europeans and Americans tend to see other people mainly as suppliers of things we need or consumers of stuff we want to sell. And not as fellow human beings.

Now, this posting is surely not against the development of photovoltaic cells, I think they are great and they do have potential. The posting is about the imbalanced thinking.

2 comments:

  1. Check the debate at: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=6255

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  2. Also, we should not see the desert as "dead". It is a living eco-system as well.

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