McDermott: Trends in Offshore Oil & Gas - GineersNow GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 021, McD | Page 22

In Search of An
Energy Miracle
Bill Gates shares his insights
on the energy challenges
facing the world today, and
sounds his ideas on what
can be done to resolve them.
If you are reading this article on your
mobile, tablet or laptop, then consider
yourself lucky. And not only for having
the opportunity to imbibe the nuggets
of wisdom enlaced in it, but also, and
primarily, for the chance of reading it on
an electric-powered device.
For most of us, it shall be easy to take
for granted the presence of electricity
in our lives. Some of us are just aused
to watching TV or listening to the radio,
dozing off while reading under the light
of a bedside lamp, surfing the Internet to
connect with friends or research for an
assignment, or plugging mobile phones
and seeing them fully charged in the
morning. For most of us, electricity is
ubiquitous, unobtrusive, that we forget
that it’s even there…until it’s gone
Imagine for a moment that your computer,
mobile or tablet shuts off at this point.
Perhaps the power went out, or your
mobile gadgets ran out of juice. What
would you do? I am guessing scramble
(read panic) to find the fault and make
your device work again. Long-press the
power button? Check the plug if it’s still
engaged? Connect your gadget to a
charger? For sure.
Now, your device works again. Am I
hearing a sigh of relief? Yes. Good for
you. Now, go on reading
If in that short span of (imaginary) time,
you felt helpless and unsettled with
the thought of not having electricity to
power your gadget, imagine what 1.3
billion people who do not have access to
electricity feel?
Some of them have electricity for a
few hours a day, some have never
experienced what it is like to have power.