EA7.3 , EA7.5 and EA7.7 English Energy Solutions in an Imaginary Country

This is one of the online assignments we did on this course:

The students worked in twos (occasionally threes) and drew up an  Energy plan for their imaginary country.  

This task was pretty creative but  the students had to deal with the notion of energy.

Here are some of the creative stories the students came up with in less than 45 minutes. 

Meriland

Meriland is located on the coast of eastern Africa and it is known to be the only occidental country of Africa due to the fact that Meriland is very wealthy and the culture and the consumption is extremely western alike. It has just a bit over 2 million citizens. The main livelihood is services and industry makes about a quarter of the trade. Agriculture is the minor source of livelihood just like in most western countries.

The main geographical features are the fact that the country is in the very coast so the Indian Ocean provides not only water resources but also wind that blows from the ocean. In the middle part of the country there is some mountains that make the western part of the country very warm and the vegetation there is quite poor mostly lowland covered by grass. The climate is subtropical which means long hot summers and mild winters.

The most common way of producing energy is nuclear power. The country has five nuclear power stations located all over the country. The props of  using nuclear power is that they can create a lot of energy  with a small  consumption. Nuclear fuel also has a huge energy content on it compared to other fuels. Nuclear power stations don’t create almost any harmful emissions or greenhouse gases. Also the nuclear power stations employ lot of people.

The cons of using nuclear power are that they use uranium, which is non-renewable  resource and the prediction is that we run out of uranium in 85 years. Nuclear power stations also keep loud noises and moving in the area is difficult. The stations considers are cooled by seawater and when the warm water goes back to the sea it can be harmful  to the ecosystem. Also the nuclear waste that comes from making the energy is highly dangerous because of the radiation, and it can’t be removed. Because of the radiation working on nuclear power stations is dangerous and if the safety in the stations isn’t right, there can happen nuclear power plant accidents and the radiation can spread to the nature. Also natural disasters can affect on nuclear power stations, like in year 2011 in Japan. Radiation exposure can increase the risk of getting cancer or deformed children. Also some areas with high radiation value need to be isolated many years, for example Chernobyl's nuclear power plant accident.

Because the uranium is running out, the people of the Meriland are changing their energy production in ways that they can advantage the natural resources that the country’s climate and geographical features have to offer. So nuclear power is cut down to the minimum.

Meriland’s energy plan for the future is to use the renewable energy sources as much as possible. The energy plan includes for instance starting a wind power stations on the coast where there is always a strong wind flow because of the winds that blow from the sea. Pros of wind power is that it is extremely renewable since it is highly unlike that wind would ever stop blowing. Also wind power is a cheap way to product energy over all. Cons are that the windmills are large and take a lot of space because if you want to create energy on them you have to have a very large number of them so it is not a nice view for the inhabitants of Meriland.

Meriland also plans to use water power not only on the coast but also in the mountain rivers. The pros of the water power are similar to wind powers. It is easily accessible, extremely renewable and rather cheap. Cons are that to make water energy effectively it needs to take a lot of space since reservoirs are needed in the process. Also water energy destroys environmental conditions of the rivers.

The energy plan also has solar energy in it which is easily available as well because the climate is subtropical and the sun is shining most of the year. And like the other plans solar power is renewable. Cons on this is that for now it is fairly expensive and solar cells aren’t too effective since one cell doesn’t provide too much energy.

Janina, Meri ja Noora



Boraslavia

population: 289 666
area: 3513 square kilometres
population per square metre: 82
main livelihoods: male 93, female 102
official languages: Hungarian, Slovak
The economic situation isn’t very good at the moment because we don’t get any gas from our biggest resource provider the all mighty mother Russai. We live mainly on rural productions such as herding livestock, farming land and selling furs to neighbor countries and exporting them to western Eulope. Boraslavia isn’t an industrial country yet so most of the people live in the countryside.
We produce energy from coal and import gas and oil from Russai. The coal production is at early levels because of the economic difficulties. Gas and oil are pricy so it’s not that beneficial to the economy. Coal heat is much more effective instead.
We should try nuclear energy. We are trying to get big international companies to invest in a nuclear power plant. But then there is the waste.


Otto , Julius  & Lauri

Ecologylandia has about a million people living there because it is a small country.  The soil in this country is very fertile which is why it offers a great opportunity for farming. The economic situation is good because the country is so small that there is no need for public transportation.  The people often go from place to place by bike. Houses are generated by solar energy in every home so that it can be heated and normal electricity can be used daily. Every person in Ecologylandia is vegetarian and so no meat consumption is needed.

Most energy produced in our country is by solar power, wind power and by water power which are taken from the rapids that flow through the land.  Since everything is economical there are very few

cons to be seen and everything is naturally produced. Although there is one volcano that the people fear might erupt one day destroying everything that has been built.

Our goal is to keep this current way of producing energy that we have at the moment and we hope to not change it in anyway.

Renewable energy is the best way to go in our country because we don’t want to pollute the air that we breathe and we don’t want to waste or use up our natural resources.

Daisy & Katrina

Pururuu

Capital:                                                                         Hoja
Area:                                                               Total 675km²
Population:                                                    3 000 000
Gini:                                                                               90.0
Gross Domestic Product:                            Per Capita 100K


Most important income of Pururuu is minerals such as gold and uranium. The geographic figures of Pururuu are beneficial to mining industry. For example there exist lots of wide rocky areas in this small island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Because Pururuu is located near water is fishing favorable and of the main livelihoods along with mining.

Today the most used energy source of Pururuu is atomic energy since the small island produces huge amounts of uranium. It is good, since there is an easy access to the materials, because of the amount of uranium and plutonium in Pururuu. But in the future the uranium sources are going to hit the end of the road. The small country has to develop new energy sources. Also wave energy is used utilizing the monstrous waves in the Pacific Ocean. This usage of water is an ecofriendly way of producing energy. The only negative point in wave energy is disturbing fishing and ocean ecosystem. For example since the island is in the middle of the ocean it´s a very windy area. Wind energy is renewable and an ecofriendly way to produce energy, but it needs a lot of space and some money too. They aren´t attractive as a part of the landscape neither. Also the nature provides some new ways of producing energy such as peat. Peat is a good option when the ground is highly nutritious.  It is also a renewable energy source. But it takes a lot of time to grow and mixes up the ecosystem.

Nowadays nuclear energy is the best and cheapest option to produce energy but in future it will be usage of bioenergy.


Lauri and Liina

NORTH-GAYTAR

North-Gaytar is a small country in the Middle-East. Two million people live in our country, but a lot of immigrants work here. Because of the amount of natural resources our country is rich beyond imagination, although the immigrants are extremely poor and live without basic human rights. Most of the citizens live in palaces and have a luxurious life. Most of our country is desert and we have a few great and huge cities.
Our king has decided to use only fossil energy because our great country has plenty of them. Gas, oil, coal you name it we got it. There are so many resources we can sell it to our allies such as the United States of America. We are the world’s leading oil producer and it grants us a lot of money. Everybody knows the cons of our policy on energy, but our loving king decided in all his wisdom that it’s just propaganda from our hostile neighbor South-Gaytar.
Our king is so wise that he knows we need to figure out new ways to produce energy. That’s why our almighty king has ordered the scientists to develop fission energy. Our powerful army is also going to take over the nuclear plants in South-Gaytar to provide longer lasting resources.


Aleksi and Pietari


                                               Middle-Korea

Middle-Korea is an country between North and South Korea. There are five cities three of them have over five million inhabitants. The capital is centruks and there lives 7,2 million inhabitants. The total population of the country is 23,8 million inhabitants. The country is lead by it’s dictator Kim Tero XIV.  The country is a third world country, but it’s dictator’s family lives like luxurious life. The main livelihoods are fishing, farming rice and mining industry.  Middle Korea has an active volcano called Téro(2329m). Elsewhere Middle-Korea is quite flat. Middle-Korea is 500 000square kilometers

    Middle-Korea has five nuclear power plants, but they are quite unstable and the country has been shaken by quite a few nuclear reactor meltdowns and one was even worse than chernobyl. The pros: you can get a lot of energy quite cheap cons are that the waste is hard to get rid off and the frequent nuclear reactor meltdowns occur once a year at least.    

    Dictator Tero is a forward looking person and have started investing in renewable resorces, such as solar power and wind power. The cons of these methods are that they cost quite a lot to build and the amount of energy they produce is far less than  nuclear power plant.Pros are that it is renewable energy and it doesn’t pollute the nature.    

    The best way to produce energy in Middle-Korea is nuclear power, since is produces a lot of energy for a poor country like Middle-Korea.

Janne and Jesse