Greetings! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Derek. I am senior in the Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program at the University of Washington, Bothell campus. Although I was born just a few miles away in Everett, when I was two, my family and I moved to the small country of El Salvador, where I grew up and lived for sixteen years. Once I finished High School I moved back to Washington and started taking classes at Cascadia with the intention of getting the prerequisites necessary to apply to the ME program at UWB. Currently, I’m planning on going into the power generation industry (preferably renewable power) upon my graduation. This hope and aspiration brought me to this program, officially called Renewable Energy in Japan and the United States. Although we don’t arrive in Japan until September 4th, a group of eleven students and I (picture of the group below, I’m wearing the black Columbia jacket) have been taking classes for the last two weeks which have dived into not only technical aspects of various forms of renewable power generation but also the beautifully intricate and complex Japanese culture, history and language. It has been a long two weeks, but I’ve learned more than I could have imagined and am even more excited to go to Japan to continue learning.
Not only is this program’s theme extremely relevant to me as my plan is work in the power generation industry upon graduation, but also because there is no better example to learn from than Japan when it comes to renewable energy. In 2011, after the disaster in Fukushima, Japan’s government make the decision to shut down all their nuclear reactors to avoid any further catastrophe. Unfortunately, that meant stopping over 40% of Japans power generation over the span of a few days. To make up for this massive scarcity in power, Japan was forced to begin importing oil and coal as a fuel for their combustion power plants to make up for the recent shortage of power. As their national deficit grows, Japan’s economy has suffered and will continue to suffer until a more economic and renewable source of power is implemented on a large scale. This brings me back to why Japan is the perfect country to learn from as they rapidly expand their renewable energy grid. Hopefully, the United States will undergo a similar change in the decades to come, as we shift from being a society filling the gaps of our power needs with renewables while depending on fossil fuels, to a society that depends on renewables while filling in the gaps with fossil fuels. When this time comes, we can look back to Japan, having already conquered the challenges that arose, learn from their example, and ultimately, follow in their footsteps toward a clean, efficient and renewable power grid. This study abroad will allow me to get some insight into the challenges Japan is facing, with the hopes of being able to address similar challenges in the US in the years to come.
This will be my first time I will be going to a foreign country, while only knowing a grand total of thirteen common word/phrases in the native language. Not being able to communicate effectively without the aid of technology or a translator is quite scary for me. In the weeks prior to my departure, I’ve started practicing a few useful phrases in Japanese. Once I begin to feel comfortable with the pronunciation, I turn to the world most powerful tool for conquering language barriers: Google Translate. Unfortunately, when I try translating my new Japanese phrases back to English, I discover that my mispronunciation has changed the context and meaning to either nonsense or something completely offensive. Thankfully, most Japanese are more than understanding and forgiving when it comes to a foreigner’s attempt to speak the language; often, the attempt at respecting another’s culture and language speaks volumes, and is highly regarded and praised.
I look forward to updating you all on my adventures in the days to come. I know that I will learn volumes and only hope that I can apply that knowledge in a later day to help our nation move toward a better future.
Derek Flett, 2017
