Session 10

Our final topic was Technology Assessment and Forecasting; Developing a Framework for Understanding What Comes Next. We discussed what the drivers for Technology Assessment and Forecasting were and also the two major dimensions when assessing technology. These are the Economic/Business considerations as well as the Technology considerations. This lesson wraps up everything we have learnt through out the course, eventually giving us the skills necessary to forecast and extrapolate possible opportunities in society.

The presentation on how the U.S. is running out of energy re-emphasizes the point that the class was making over the past few weeks. The only time that people start to look into and develop renewable energy is when the price of oil increases. This I feel is the sad truth about humanity where the economic factors are often prioritized. At the rate that fossil fuels are extracted, its depletion is a certainty. The renewable energy market would therefore be one to look out for in the future.

To cap, I felt that the in-class discussions that we had each week were very insightful. There were also individual presentations that introduced very interesting concepts and technologies as well as fresh perspectives to the class.

Personal Rating: 7/10

Session 9

In this session, our focus was on the emerging and future technologies. We first began by identifying what some of the drivers for the development of emerging and future technologies were. These included unmet market opportunity and need, also how new insights and discoveries would lead to previously unimagined needs where people dont realize they need it until they have experienced it. I felt that, from the video that was showed to the class, “Programmable Matter” is a very interesting concept. The idea that people might eventually be able to customize and mould future products conveniently and on-demand seems fantastical at present. But knowing that certain companies have already started research in this field makes it a really exciting prospect for the future.

The other interesting emerging technology that was discussed in class was the concept of flexible screen displays. There would be a lot of potential for this particular technology in its application to the real world. Due to its light weight and portability, this can in fact be a substitute for the use of paper in certain situations. Therefore causing a reduction in the demand for paper and the detrimental effects on the environment. As discussed in class, they could even be made into wristbands for use in a hospital. Any information that a doctor or nurse might need when treating a patient would be displayed on the bands and can also be used to alert the related medical staff in the case of an emergency. There are endless possibilities.

We have been discussing the various forms of renewable energy for the past two weeks. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal etc. An emerging and future source of energy would be nuclear fusion as presented by Joshua. I feel that if the research in nuclear fusion has significant breakthroughs, it would definitely be a viable alternative as the renewable energy sources that we know of today often take up immense areas. If nuclear fusion is indeed a safe and very efficient method of obtaining energy and the cost to sustain a fusion reaction is reasonable, I am sure many countries would turn to this method of obtaining energy.

The video of Microsoft's future vision that was shown to the class a few weeks ago had many interesting concepts that could have been discussed in class

Personal Rating: 8/10

Session 8

Energy and World Change (Past, Present and Future) was our focus in this session. The continued use of fossil fuels will eventually lead to its depletion and mankind will therefore need to find alternative, renewable sources of energy. Such of which includes, solar, hydro, geothermal and wind, just to name a few. Some drivers of energy change mentioned in class included the rapid rising of energy prices, the rising energy consumption and need for economic development, need for sustainability and the discovery of new technologies and approaches.

The presentation on Geoengineering was rather interesting. It presents a certain set of solutions that introduces chemicals or other materials into the environment, thus altering it to solve some of the world's problems such as global warming. However, I feel that such a solution is feasible but only in the short run. As mentioned in the presentation, this is due to the fact that by adding chemicals such as sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, the may be certain negative consequences. This is also not an excuse for people to continue releasing harmful pollutants such as greenhouse gases into the environment. Therefore, this solution can be implemented in the short run as the development of 'clean' and renewable energy continues, eventually replacing the need for fossil fuels altogether.

Osmotic power was also something that was introduced to me in class. The process involves the movement of water molecules from a higher concentration (W₁)to a lower one (W₂) through a semi-permeable membrane (M).

Image Obtained from :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_energy_mechanism.png

The pressure created (P) would then be used to drive the turbines and produce electricity¹. As we move toward the future, renewable methods of obtaining energy will definitely have to play a larger role. Once the costs of harnessing these renewable sources of energy start to fall, more countries will turn to these sources and therefore ease the demand on fossil fuels.

Although osmotic power was not presented in our class, I felt that this should still have been discussed further.

Personal Rating: 8/10

1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_power

Session 7

Session 7 was a continuation of the topic on BioBusiness Revolution. For this week, the focus shifted on to Agribiology, Environmental life sciences and also Industrial biotechnology. Genetically modified foods and biofuels were some of the aspects of the biobusiness revolution that we discussed.

The quote by Norman Borlaug, “Civilization as we know today could not have evolved, no can it survive, without an adequate food supply”, is a fitting observation. It is only when the basic needs of society are able to be met that it would be able to progress. Another term that were introduced to the class was bioremediation which was the usage of biological methods to clean up industrial waste.

The presentation of corn based ethanol fuel was interesting and it covered the reasons behind how Brazil was able to switch to ethanol fuel but USA was not. Personally I feel that biofuels are indeed a very good alternative energy source as this energy source is fully compatible with present fuel and engine technology¹. The downside to biofuels are similar to most other forms of renewable energy sources available today, which is the incredibly large amount of space needed to generate sufficient amounts energy.

I felt the topic on achieving food security could be discussed further

Personal Rating: 7/10

1http://www.habmigern2003.info/biogas/biofuels.html