Wisnu Harimurti

THE ROLE OF GEOSCIENTISTS IN ENERGY DEMAND

As time goes by, the population of Indonesian people continues to grow.
Indonesia as a developing country would need a lot of national needs that must
be fulfilled. One of the national needs that much affected by population growth is
energy demands. Energy demand is used for support infrastructures including
industry, transport, households, etc. So, more and more of the population growth
in a country is directly proportional to the more energy needed.
As published by BPPT in Indonesia Energy Outlook 2013, it is known that
the final energy consumption by sector in Indonesia is increasing from year to
year. Energy consumption increased by 764 million Barrels of Oil Equivalent
(BOE) from 2000 to 2011. The sectors with the largest energy consumption are
also changing. In 2000 the household sector dominates energy consumption by
38.8% which is then followed by the industrial sector at 36.5%. Whereas in 2011
the industrial sector the highest number, 37.2% and then the household sector
amounted to 30.7%.
Fossil fuels are the energy that needs to be subsidized because the price
of fossil fuels is greatly influenced by external factors, namely the price of crude
oil on the world market. Fossil fuel subsidies from the government are channeled
by Pertamina is still limited in the type of kerosene, diesel and gasoline as energy
concerning the lives of many people. Fossil fuel prices are subsidized established
by a presidential decree and aims to stabilize the prices of goods as the impact
on the price of fossil fuels.
Electricity subsidy policy, which is the second largest energy subsidies for
fossil fuels, allocated by the government for electricity sale price is lower than
the cost of supplying electricity. The aim of this subsidy so that the electricity
cost can be reached by the society. Thus, the availability of electricity to the
industrial sector as well as public facilities and infrastructure will be assured.
According to Rusalida Raguwanti, we need the renewable energy that can
cover the needs of energy and electricity. Because if its not, the energy stability
of Indonesia will experience a crisis by continuously using conventional energy.
Which is would be bad to national development.
Indonesia is one country that has the potential of renewable energy thats
very abundant. Renewable energy is energy resources that are quickly
recoverable naturally with sustainable process. Renewable energy is generated
from natural energy resources that will not be exhausted even sustainable if
managed properly.
The concept of renewable energy is already begun to be known in the
world in the 1970s. Its emergence as an antithetical to the development and use
of fossil-based energy (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) and nuclear. Besides
recoverable, renewable energy is believed to be clean (environmentally friendly),
secure, and inexpensive. The use of renewable energy is more environmentally

friendly because it can reduce environmental pollution and environmental

damage compared to conventional energy
Indonesia have a renewable energies which are now being developed such
as geothermal, wind, water, solar, ocean waves, tidal, biofuel, and biomass.
Among the eight new renewable energy, geothermal got the top of the
renewable energies are much in demand.
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source in the form of thermal
energy (heat) is generated and stored in the earth. Geothermal energy is
believed to be quite cheap, abundant, sustainable and environmentally friendly.
However, the utilization is still constrained in technology exploitation that can
only reach around plate tectonics.
In Indonesia, the renewable energy source is not yet used optimally. As
many as 90% of energy used in Indonesia is still using fossil-based energy (coal,
petroleum, and natural gas) and the rest, less than 10%, which utilize renewable
energy sources. Such an irony considering Indonesia has a high potential
renewable energy sources.
Much-needed the role of geologists and geophysics in developing new
renewable energy sources (in this case geothermal). There are many things that
can be done by geologists and geophysics in developing new renewable energy
sources such as:
Firstly, continue doing exploration. According to the Chairman of Asosiasi
Panas Bumi, Surya Darma, Indonesia in 2005 showed there are 256 potential
geothermal spots across the archipelago. The numbers are very large. Indonesia
is estimated to have 40% reserves of geothermal energy over the world.
However, as already mentioned above, until now very little has been exploited.
Second, do your research and study. We are scientists as a destiny that
what we do is research and research. Seek knowledge as much as possible,
creating innovations that could become the new benchmark in our future
exploration.
Therefore, as a geoscientist, keep doing exploration and do research and
study. By doing so, indirectly we participate in fulfilling the energy demand of
this cray cray country.