Governor Fashola's Article On The Sun

I saw this article by Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, in The Guardian of Monday 11th August, I can't believe a governor will write such crap.

Is the sun inexhaustible?
By Babatunde Fashola

ON assumption of office as Governor, I had once thought that our immediate priority with the environment was first to conquer the challenge of managing solid waste and flood, while other environmental challenges though compelling and worrisome, could be ordered as subsequent priorities. Upon further reflection, I am convinced that we cannot afford to do so. I think that we should be as concerned with those challenges as we are and will be with solid waste management and flooding.

As the world continues to struggle to cope with the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions, rising carbon levels, arctic melt down and increasing water levels, African nay Nigeria scientists must be at the vanguard of the search for alternative energy sources. The presumptive and prescriptive solutions are renewable energy sources such as bio-fuels and the solar power. Our concerns and the need for our active participations arise from the following events and questions I have asked myself and which we must ask ourselves and find answers to, before we join the rat race.

The first of these events is factual; namely that, Europe and America do not have as much sunshine as Africa. Therefore it is safe or reasonable to conclude that the sparing supply of sun in those parts, and the winter season which is not prevalent in Africa are nature's prescription for maintaining balance of the eco-system not only in those parts, but for the purpose of keeping the African weather the way it has been known to be. Vice versa, the amount of sunlight and rain, without winter in most parts of Africa, are also nature's necessary prescriptions for maintaining the Africa climate and balancing Europe and America.

The other event or fact is that dwindling levels of crude oil and hydro carbon supplies across the world demonstrate clearly that this source of power, and indeed possibly nothing that nature has provided is inexhaustible. The increasing threat of extinction of certain species of wildlife and flora and fauna and the disappearance of dinosaurs confirm the indisputable exhaustibility of nature's gifts.

The recent scarcity of food supplies especially grains cannot be divorced from increasing recourse to them as necessary inputs for bio- fuels. Therefore before we all turn to the sun for solar power, I think it is important to attempt to, ascertain how exhaustible or inexhaustible the sun itself is before we pursue worldwide recourse to it as an alternative to petroleum.

Will Africa become cooler or colder if large parts of the world begin to tap and store the rays of the sun as a primary source of power? If Africa becomes or will become cooler as a result, are we sufficiently prepared to deal with the cold technologically? Or will we simply tap more solar power to generate more heating? What will be the effect of a cooler Africa on Europe and America? Will the Atlantic and similar oceans and water bodies become cooler, colder or will they freeze? Will this lead to reduced water sources and supply necessary for drinking, farming and sustenance of life? Is the search for renewable energy a futile race to prevent end times? Is the increasing global warming a sign of the end of planet earth? If so, is it stoppable or reversible?

I do not want to be misunderstood as probably suggesting that the issue of global warming is not real or deserves attention; as some have posited; On the contrary, my simple message from this piece is to urge caution, rationality and verification so that we do not replace one problem with another.

My views seem to find support in Lord Browne's article published in a recent British Newspaper, when he said:-

"Returning to Ford's innovation of a century ago, to a great extent the need for oil results from our reliance on the motor car. However, events might have transpired differently. When the Model T was created, it could have run on either gasoline or ethanol. Gasoline was chosen for a number of reasons that had little to do with engineering - including "prohibition" in the US which restricted the production of ethanol, and the falling price of gasoline.

The effects of that choice have been as significant as the advent of the motor car itself. Gasoline is a high-carbon fuel. Burning it releases greenhouse gases, the consequences of which we are only now beginning to understand. The choice of gasoline also required the addition of an agent to allow the engine to run smoothly. That agent was lead, the presence of which in fuel has led to significant levels of harmful local pollution.

Gasoline's predominance, which has little to do with pure engineering, has had profound consequences for mankind. It has helped create what I believe is today's greatest engineering challenge: combating climate change. Perhaps we could now be running cars on renewable, low-carbon fuels if things had developed differently.

My view is that engineers must be more involved in thinking through the impact of society on their works, and of their work on society. Engineers can not predict the future. But we can use our expertise to have a positive influence. The engineers of tomorrow are professionals who will revolutionise the way we live through their ingenuity and their humanity."

It is clear that if it was possible to have foreseen today 100 years ago, serious reflection and possibly a change of heart will have occurred to the engineers who chose gasoline as the source of energy for the first Ford T Model. The quest for alternative energy sources is justified and necessary for the sustenance of humanity. The solutions so far propounded have not been perfected or tested to any known limits of endurance .Africa must not be seen to be joining the rat race , it must lead or join the human race.

Herein lies in my view, the imperative of this message. We must seriously reflect on the choices we plan to make today, so that tomorrow can be assured. Too much is at stake for us not to be involved. The answer to the problem might lie somewhere other than where the whole world seems to be looking. Our planet must not perish.

Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is the Governor of Lagos State.

Fashola's article concerned alternative energy sources and the need to exercise caution before blindly pursuing new energy-generating technologies without adequately considering the possible downside of adopting those methods.  He did make a few good points, such as his endorsement of the observation that global grain shortage has been caused in part by an increasing reliance on grain for biofuel energy generation, which reduces the quantity of grain available to feed the planet.

Fashola RUINED the entire write-up, however, when he ventured to make the outlandish suggestion that solar panels used to create, non-polluting, clean energy from the INFINITE POWER of the sun can actually REDUCE THE POWER of the sun, such that Africa and other tropical belt countries could wind up experiencing some sort of nuclear winter as a result of EUROPE's wide-spread solar-power reliance.   Now that statement makes about as much sense as expecting the sea to dry up as a result of all the molecules of water that adhere to passing ships, or theorizing that the trajectory of the earth's spin might be subject to alteration with every swing of Tiger Wood's golf club.

Fashola you are a good man making enormous strides in cleaning up the cess-pool that is Lagos state, but PLEASE do not propound any more of these wild, pseudo-scientific theories in public again, or people will begin to surmise that you have been spending too much time in the sun.   You need a holiday to clean out the cobwebs in your mind. Take one now.