Chu toured a GE-PrimeStar Solar plant in Arvada, Colo., on Nov. 18 that he said was a stellar example of American invention leading to American jobs. Later the same day, he toured the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo. and spoke to a gathering of NREL and DOE employees.

via www.renewableenergyworld.com

The people at NREL go about their business year in and year out, from one administration to the next, buffeted by politics and media flak, getting the good work done. Secretary Chu understands this. His pep talk in Colorado should be widely read, and his advice followed.

-- Doug Logan

Wesley Clark is a former NATO supreme commander, four-star general, Rhodes Scholar, and clear thinker. He's also a former candidate for president. His view, and he's far from alone, is that robust development of a biofuels industry in the U.S. is vital to national security:

Clark is co-chairman of Growth Energy, a group pushing the development of cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol (as opposed to ethanol produced from foodstock) is good, but biofuel needs to come from multiple sources so that that the industry itself cannot be politicized. Waste vegetable oils, rendered animal fat, algae biodiesel, fermentation fuels -- all these need to be part of the equation, so that together they can relieve us of dependence on OPEC oil.

-- Doug Logan

James Woolsey, Robert McFarlane, George Schultz, and other members of the newly announced United States Energy Security Council are wisely promoting alternative fuels and flex-fuel vehicles as national security urgencies. Here's a summary of the group's views from the New York Times editorial page:

How to Weaken the Power of Foreign Oil

Listed below are a few of the posts on New Energy Watch that have discussed the importance of a national effort to move away from a dependence on OPEC oil for a variety of reasons: to stimulate new industry and the economy, to help mitigate climate change, and as a national security matter:

• Climate Change Threatens National Security
• CNA Report: National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
• Good paper -- Nexus: Oil and Al Qaeda
• Dynamic Fuels, Tyson Foods: Jets Can Fly on Animal Fat
• Climate Change Threatens National Security
• Re:NEW

 - Doug Logan

The renewable energy business has done a remarkable job at positioning itself in the public psyche as the ‘it girl’ of our era.  Just about everyone – politicians, celebrities, major industries – likes to be seen as pro-renewable.

via www.renewableenergyworld.com

When efficiency and conservation become as exciting as alternative energy equipment, we'll begin to make serious headway.

Despite the misleading deck on Nansen Saleri's "Our Man-Made Energy Crisis" in the Wall Street Journal, the article correctly notes the disproportionate reaction of the oil markets to Middle East strife. Whether that reaction is truly panicky, or cynically exploitative, or some combination of the two, it's out of line with realities. Nansen goes on to to cite the huge percentage of fuel sacrificed in the U.S. by waste, poor industrial practices and designs, inefficient processes, and needless use. Here's a response to the article from NewEnergyWatch.com, published in the WSJ comments section:

Mr. Saleri’s article is well-reasoned and informed. I don’t believe, however, that he wrote his own headline and deck. Whoever wrote the deck was more interested in saying that the Obama administration is demonizing oil companies (which is partly true but a red herring), than in highlighting the point of the article, which had to do with the importance of promoting and rewarding energy efficiency and conservation. The Obama administration, as the author points out, has simply waffled (and been buffeted by powerful interest groups, including oil interests), without getting anything meaningful done. 

As a national security matter, we do indeed need to reduce energy waste drastically, and we do need to be more efficient in almost all of our energy-driven processes, including the ways we extract fossil fuel from the planet. As a nation, we should have an adult discussion about nuclear power, with rational voices -- not zealots -- explaining both sides of the matter. Most of all, we should, as a nation, strive mightily to eliminate petroleum imports from OPEC nations -- 6,350,000 barrels of crude oil and petroleum products of the 18,771,000 barrels consumed in the U.S. every day, or about a third. (Source: eia.doe.gov.), Considering that, as Mr. Saleri points out, only about 13% of all that oil is converted to usable form, with over two-thirds literally being wasted by inefficiency, poor design, and profilgate use, it’s shocking and maddening that no politician of any stripe since 9/11 has made any request of the American people or American business to help, by moderate sacrifice, to make the OPEC nations irrelevant when it comes to U.S. energy needs.

Finally, although we will need to extract and burn fossil fuels for some time to come, we should also vigorously pursue the development of biofuels, electric vehicles, high-efficiency energy processes and design, and 21st-century jobs in new energy and grid-building. Some of the biggest oil companies -- ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhilips, to name a few, are already pursuing these matters, because they’re well-positioned in terms of infrastructure and delivery to profit from some of these fundamental shifts in the future.

-- Doug Logan

“America, you have built your house at the foot of a volcano. That volcano is now spewing lava from different cracks and is rumbling like it’s going to blow. Move your house!” In this case, “move your house” means “end your addiction to oil.”

via www.nytimes.com

A $1 per gallon fuel tax, adding only moderate (and equitably distributed) discomfort, could power a clean energy and infrastructure revolution that would enable the U.S. to disentangle itself from the OPEC world. More jobs, better economy, improved national security, added climate support -- it's all to the good. The average American family and average American company should be able to afford the discomfort of the tax to change their country in such a powerful, fundamental way, and help secure the futures of their children and grandchildren. The Greatest Generation made much higher sacrifices in World War II with little complaint. It's time for us to take a few lumps for the greater good. As Friedman says, "If Not Now, When?"

Its foray into this new venture has just started, and already its leaders are discovering that making the transition from a fossil-fuel based economy isn’t easy, given the resources they are pursuing aren’t simply buried underneath their soil.

via www.renewableenergyworld.com