Zachary Wilson

Ms. Ionta

Honors World Cultures

26 October 2010

Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a developing nation. Although we are a developing

nation, we have many problems. One of our many global problems is energy. This position paper
will include things such as how our energy is consumed, why we need a new energy system, and
ultimately, how our energy affects the world.

First, our energy consumption is 6.5% higher than the global average. This consumption
equals approximately 2,250 kilowatts per hour per capita. We have many energy subsidies set
up. These subsidies amount to $15.6 billion dollars. That is an estimated 16% of our GDP and
rising. These subsidies include oil products and natural gas. All of these subsidies have a
negative effect on our economy.

One of the huge effects of these energy subsidies on our economy is our economic
growth. Huge subsidies on energy slow our economic growth, thus slowing our rate of
development. Also, wealth distribution is effected by energy subsidies. These subsidies have to
be done away with because the whole purpose of the subsidies is to help the lower and middle
income households. Instead, 0.1% of gasoline subsidies are used by the poorest 10% of
households and 40% of gasoline subsidies are used by the richest 10% of households. One of the
major problems of these energy subsidies, that affect the whole world, is the pollution.

Only 2% of our energy consumed is clean energy; that is by hydroelectric power. Our
number one source of energy comes from natural gas, which provides 53% of our energy.
Another 44% of our energy comes from oil and 1% of our energy comes from coal. As you can
see, 98% of our energy comes from unclean energy.

With unclean energy, come the effects on the earth and earth’s life. One of the major
health effects in our country is deaths from pollution. This accounts for approximately 4,600
deaths per just in the city of Tehran. The pollution that is at fault for these deaths comes from our
use of unclean energy. The air quality in Tehran was called a “collective suicide” by one of our
environmental officials. Also, the Caspian Sea is extremely polluted, effecting our trade and is a
huge cost for our government. The lake is so polluted that ships have to dredge the bottom
nonstop because our large container ships will get stuck in all the sludge. Recently, a small
fishing boat dropped anchor and had to have a ship crew saw the anchor off because it was stuck
in the sludge. These effects may seem too private, however, there is a huge global problem
involved too.

This well known global problem is global warming. This global problem is caused by the
emissions released due to the world’s industrial revolution. Our emissions totaled approximately
511 million metric tons of CO2 for the year of 2008. That is 7.76 metric tons of CO2 per capita,
which is more than nations such as India and China. These numbers are only increasing and it’s
time to take some effective action.

Although cleaner energy is not our number one concern in today’s world, we have been
made aware of our horrible problem by our own environmentalists. We do already have
environmentalists working for the government. We also already have private, non-profit
organizations in place to clean up the environment. These organizations are only somewhat
effective. It is time for our government to start taking a heavier approach on our environmental
problems that affect both our own nation and the world.

The ultimate solution is to switch to clean energy all together. We are requesting to create
a new nuclear energy facility in our capital city, Tehran. We would run this facility
independently, so we wouldn’t give out any more subsidies for energy. This is just one step to
our clean energy. We do want to continue proceeding to ultimate clean energy, but we need to
start with a nuclear energy facility. In order to start working on this plan, we need to have
extensive planning.

Before we start putting our nuclear energy plans into effect, we are going to appoint a
new government department to manage this construction. This agency (the Iranian Nuclear
Energy Development Agency or INEDA) will also plan future facilities and make our nuclear
energy facilities as efficient as possible. I do know, however, that there is much skepticism about
supplying Iran with nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy is really the only clean energy source that is useable and effective for our
country. Nearly two-thirds of our country is either mountains or deserts. This makes it very
difficult to build other clean energy facilities such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power. It is
nearly impossible to have engineers stationed in the deserts and mountains building these huge
masses for producing clean energy. Then, we would have to have the energy sent over miles of
desert and mountains just to supply a small portion of a small town or city. Also, in regards to
hydroelectric power, we are suffering from droughts all the time, so hydroelectricity would be
very ineffective. Therefore, nuclear energy would be the cleanest and most proficient source for
clean energy in our country.

By eventually converting to total nuclear energy, we would be able to cut our subsidies,
thus furthering our development and helping to boost our economic growth by an estimated 2.2%
annually. With the money saved by cutting our energy subsidies, we could provide all of our
schools with computer rooms and provide 8.7 million jobs. Also, by cutting these subsidies and
switching to total clean energy would result in a reduction of our emissions by one half, putting
us behind the top twenty countries of CO2 emissions. This will also create cheaper oil prices for
the world (especially for our number one trade partner; China), thus increasing global economies
and creating numerous jobs throughout the world. Although this is a huge project and will take a
number of years, it is very beneficial to our country as well as the whole globe.

Overall, we find nuclear energy to be our best approach to clean energy. This program is
very beneficial to our country’s economic and overall development, as well as the whole world’s
focus on clean energy and the effects of global warming. In order to start planning and building
our new nuclear energy facility in Tehran and creating a complex agency in charge of our
nuclear development to make it as efficient as possible, we, the Islamic Republic of Iran, are
asking for the amount of $1,000,000. One half of the money will go to create the agency, while
the other half will go to the creation of the facility itself. We hope that you consider our proposal
and work together to help us take a step and the whole world to take a step toward clean energy.
 Works Cited
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http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Iran/Background.html

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