Topic: Encouraging Alternative Energy
Country: Venezuela
Delegate Name: Emma Brinks
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Venezuela position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Despite the conclusion years ago that we would soon deplete our energy resources, leading to the evident frenzy for alternative energy sources, this is not, in fact true. 100 countries including, most notably, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, and Iraq have proven oil reserves. These reserves total around 1,481,526 million barrels (MMbbl) worldwide. These reserves are only those that have been proven so far and there are likely far greater reserves than that which we have already identified and proven.
While alternative energy sources present many beneficial elements, Venezuela believes that they usurp many of our resources and are often incredibly expensive and that if the majority of our energy is produced from alternative energy sources this could be very threatening the the whole energy system. These sources of energy are often extremely inefficient and unstable due to the reliability on inconsistent weather patterns. This also means that the systems used for harvesting these energy sources are very vulnerable to storms, floods, and all of the other elements. They are sometimes also still in experimental stages, which can cause them to be not only unreliable, but also require funding for research and testing. Venezuela also believes that integrating alternative energy could lead to economic instability and shortage of energy sources in multiple areas due to the economic reliance of some countries on fossil fuels, natural gas, and other current energy sources. The perils of switching completely or majorly to alternative energy production would be numerous, a foremost of these being cost. The alternative energy sources are not cost efficient and even the well developed countries of the world are hard-pressed to find funding for producing these energy sources. The prices of switching all or most energy production systems over to these new forms of energy would be crippling. Smaller, less developed countries would do not have the money to fund the construction and all other inputs needed to fund the alternative energy systems.Venezuela also believes that integrating alternative energy could lead to economic instability and shortage of energy sources in multiple areas due to the economic reliance of some countries on fossil fuels, natural gas, and other current energy sources.
