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Originally Posted by JackandJanet
I keep hoping, now that we have someone who is scientifically trained in the Dept of Energy, (at least I think we do?) we might just finally move forward in this process of converting sources of energy into useful results. I think the Engineering Community is up to the task, if they can just get a little incentive and the resources to forge ahead.
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I have no doubt that the Engineering community is up to the task. My fear is that politics will continue to get in the way of rational, scientific, and data-driven discussions.
Politicians seem unaware or unwilling to discuss the decisions that need to be made regarding the trade-offs required for different sources of energy, or in the development of new sources. And our-less-than scientifically literate public tends to gravitate to the latest “fad” touted by those political or economic factions that might be operating under a different agenda.
E85 was a good example: “Cheap fuel from domestic corn and we don't have to worry about that rotten OPEC.” Sounded real good when it was put that way, but E85 didn't work out very well unless you were selling fertilizer to farmers, sucking up subsidies, or trying to get elected in the farm states. And the fact that growing corn and using it for fuel instead of food was bound to end badly.
Hydrogen was quite the fad a few years back until this pesky little thing called “Physics” got in the way. “Run your car on hydrogen and the only thing that comes out of the tailpipe is water...” was the pitch. After all the ribbon-cuttings, and and photo ops, and all the grant money spent, even little Timmy in grade school figured out from watching the experiment with a battery, water, and two inverted jars, that it took just about the same amount of energy to make the hydrogen as what was provided by burning the hydrogen.
I fear electric cars like the Chevy Volt won't end up catching on either. First, you have to plug it in, so that electricity has to come from somewhere. I'm personally OK with building nukes or mining coal to add to the electrical generating capacity, but I don't think a majority of our fellow citizens are ready to deal with that trade-off yet. Next, you have the lithium battery problem. There's only a couple places in the world to get lithium, with most being in South America. And right now, the sole source of those GM batteries, and lithium-ion batteries in general, is South Korea. If Great Leader in N. Korea keeps getting chippy, we got another international problem.
No matter what the source of energy may be, the final issue may be wide-scale implementation. Right now, Toyota Prius and Chevy Volt, and whatever else comes down the pike, are only available to those who are fairly well off. Get stuck in the morning commute in a major city and you will find yourself surrounded by all the rest of the folks driving $2,000 “beaters” to the daily salt mine so they can just make their monthly rent and keep the kids in shoes. A $30,000 Prius or a $40,000 Volt isn't going to fit into the monthly budget of most folks unless we want to turn a sizable portion of the population into debt slaves more than they already are.
This great country has the brains and resources to solve our energy issues. But it has to start with an honest and open debate that is centered around science. And, we have to find some consensus about what goal it is we are trying to achieve. Is it energy independence? Is it low CO2 emissions? Is it maintaining our standard of living and personal mobility? Any and everything is possible, but there will be trade-offs that need to be understood before we head down any more dead ends.