Evaluating offshore technology and creating a concept for renewable energy in the Baltic region

To begin, one should start by analyzing to what extent offshore technology is currently being used in the Baltic region, and secondly what is to be understood by offshore technology. Generally seen, offshore technology refers to the drilling for gas and other oils at the bottom of the ocean- many offshore oil rigs are in use today and generally function quite well. The past however, has shown by example of the BP accident in the Gulf coast that accidents can and will happen, and when they do it is extremely difficult to contain them.

As opposed to the North Sea, the Baltic Sea has only small amounts of offshore drilling happening, with only one dedicated oilrig, Lukoil’s Kravtsovskoye oilrig, off the shore of the Kaliningrad. Germany itself has no interest or investigations happening as to drilling in the Baltic Sea, but has a venture called the “mittelplate redevelopment” in the North Sea. Several countries have drilling platforms in North Sea, which creates the question what were to happen if one of these would break down as the BP oil platform did in the Gulf of Mexico? The Baltic is dependent on water from the North Sea, and depending where and depending on the currents, if such an accident were to happen it could have detrimental effects on the Baltic Sea, an area that over time has proven to be very delicate.

Moreover, several countries however have interests in Wind Farms in the Baltic region. Germany has a very lucrative and large-scale project currently being developed called the Baltic 1 Wind Farm. This is a private project being run by Siemens and EnBW with a large interest by the German Government providing subsidies and tax exemptions.

With respect to looking for green technologies to curb the global climate change one needs to make the decision which has better effects on the climate, and thinking more economically, which has the bigger return on the invest brought- theoretically, everyone wants to have wind farms and renewable energies, but realistically this is not possible at this standpoint, so one should investigate with that in mind.

Links:

http://www.50hertz-offshore.net/en/projekte.htm -- Baltic 1 description

http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/Kravtsovskoye/ -- Offshore drilling

http://www.offshore-wind.de/page/index.php?id=2638&L=1 -- Interactive map of wind farms in the baltic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill -- Take into consideration devastation caused by passed accidents in terms of off shore drilling

For your research you should have more than those recommended information, because this should just give you an idea about the topic. The remember, the more you are informed, the better you can argue with the other delegates and fight for your idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea

http://www.helcom.fi/

http://www.io-warnemuende.de/

http://www.balticeconomicforum.com/

http://eu.baltic.net/

Dear Delegates,

We, Christof Mehlstäubler and Lisa Godomski, are proud to be this year’s Chairs of the Special Conference again.

I am currently living in England visiting the Rossal School but born in Hannover, Germany. I am 19 years old and I have already taken part in many debates in school, and some of you may know me from BerMUN 2 2009, and BerMUN 2009, where I represented the USA. I had a handful perhaps from the NemasMUN Conference 2009, where I chaired the General Assembly.

Kind regards,

Christof Mehlstäubler

I am participating in BalMUN for the 4^th time and again I am going to be one of your two Chairs after we had a lot of fun but also interesting debates last year. I have also participated in various other conferences (BerMUN, OlMUN). Currently, I live in Stralsund and study Baltic Management Studies in my 4^th Semester and I am planning on leaving Germany for studying in Sweden next Semester.

Kind regards,

Lisa Godomski

 

 

 

After we had a lot of fun chairing this committee last year, we are looking forward to fruitful and interesting debates. We expect you to be well prepared, to stick to your assigned country’s policy and have sufficient knowledge about this year’s topic.

In case you have any kinds of questions concerning us or the conference, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Lisa.godomski(at)fh-stralsund.de (Lisa Godomski)

cmehlstaeubler(at)googlemail.com (Christof Mehlstäubler)

See you in May!

Chris & Lisa