American Solutions recently held its second annual Solutions Day to create an action plan for energy. America is suffering from an artificial energy crisis that is also a dangerous national security crisis - artificial because America is gifted with enormous reserves of energy, and dangerous because it makes us vulnerable to unreliable and potentially hostile countries.
At Solutions Day, we discussed solutions to slash gas prices and solve our energy crisis, including drilling both offshore and onshore, investing in nuclear technology, and prizes to accelerate breakthroughs in alternative technologies.
Join former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams for this solution-oriented dialogue. While you watch, click here to download a checklist of steps you can take to get involved in your community.
Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams
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Kellyanne Conway
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
I cannot disagree with any of the three speakers. We do need to free ourselves from foreign oil. However, I know as a fact that we do not need fossil fuel at all for lubrication or fuel with technologies that are already in place. In fact, we don't need windmills or solor systems with the technologies that are already available. There are cheaper and better ways of providing electricity for all our needs. I don't beleive the government is serious in this matter at all.
I have spent many ears supervising military space research. There are literally hundreds of proposals and ideas, and funds naturally are limited. The question always is what to select? This is also a question now of how to determine what alternative energy programs are most worth while.
There are some that are already meeting with some limited success, such as wind energy. Solar power is also coming up but needs to be improved in terms of solar cell efficiency and expended.
However, none of these by themselves can provide radical solutions. Storage is a problem and you cannot fill your gas tank with wind energy. Electric cars, in my opinion, will not become really popular until recharging will be down to ten minutes. This is not happen in the near future.
However, there are two approaches that may offer fairly broad and radical changes. One, in my opinion, is within easy rich. The other is at the other end of a long development cycle. I am always tempted to choose one program that requires minimal development time and effort, and the other that is ideal and offers a radical solution, but requires a major system development and expenditure.
The within easy rich one is the algae oil. In 1998 the Department of Energy published a report on carbon sequestration by using it as food for growing algae. This algae also produces up to 50% of dry weight in oil that can be used as diesel oil. At that time diesel fuel market price was $1.03 /gal and algae oil was judged too expensive at the estimated $2.06/gal. Assuming that, with inflation, it may now cost $3.09/gal, it still would be an obvious bargain. We know how to produce algae, but the process may not be “optimized” at this moment. This should be a good subject for experimentation, but fertilizing, determining the best growth temperature, etc. are only technicalities that can easily be determined over the next two years. The process of building this industry is basically building gigantic swimming pools. Once the method is established, it would take off like wild fire. The government should spend its resources on supporting research to optimize the process. The current system of fuel distribution and use could be used.
The long shot is producing hydrogen for hydrogen economy. Here, there are a number of developmental issues. Hydrogen can be produced today from natural gas, but this is no improvement: there is no infinite supply of gas and carbon is a byproduct. We need to decompose water by means of sun generated electricity (hydrolysis). So, we need an enormous amount of high-efficiency solar plants; we need a way of storing enormous quantities of hydrogen for winter period. How would we store it ? In gas form? In hydrate form? How would we distribute it to filling stations? High pressure hydrogen (an explosive substance) pipelines? Feeding hydrates to the car tanks? Etc. This kind of decisions require long term developments and building an entirely new industry to high standards and new distribution system. It would however, solve all of our environmental and energy problems.
Why not use the water turbines that they have srarted placing in the river off new york. These are creating electicity and are in water already, seems only natural. If we were to place these turbines up & down the east coast in the gulf stream. Well lets say the power that we could and would create would power the east coast with electricity and alot of hydrogen if done right. When you talk about storing it for the winter why? The most natural place for a "solar farm" would be in the mid west where it is sunny 365 days a year. There seem to be other ways to me of creating clean power thermal would be good on the west coast, damns where we already have them. Both of these also use water which with a little innovation seems like they could also be used. If all or even some of these where to happen electricity would be clean. We would also have hydrogen being made in all parts of the country so are cars would be clean. True a few things need to be worked out but it is not that far off either. If this was to all happen we would create thousands of jobs in energy and the auto indutry. Just a personal thought to end on, would not the perfect hybrid be electric-hydrogen. You use electric for the short trip and or term and hydrogen after that where we use gas now.
how can we get these no growth, flat earth, marxist envirowhackos to realize they are destroying the country as we know it. why can't we offer them jobs in Mexico where they can really do some good? someone needs to educate them to the realities of what they are going to leave our future generations if we don't energize now. Cars are just a small part of our oil energy needs. Oil (hydrocarbon byproducts) are used in every facit of our very comfortable life from medicine to the very clothes we wear. We need oil for those parts of our lives and we will figure out an alternative to the car - even their hybrids need oil products to produce their stinking little cars.
Hopefully we have averted a market collapse. Now we should focus on how we got to this near world wide catastrophe. 1. The American mortgage markets were the catalyst that iniatiated the banks and investment firms red ink. 2. The laws passed by the American congress promulgated the lawyers to file against banks and mortgage companies to force them to loan to people who could not afford them. 3. Attempts to regulate the Fannie and Freddie companies failed in Congress.
Now that we know the causes, the corrective actions are easily understood. 1. Regulate all mortgage firms in this country such that they are not allowed to loan money to people who cannot afford to repay the loans. 2. Find the lawyers who forced these companies into near bankruptcy and disbar them for unethical behaviour. 3. Elect a president who tryed to reform the law that got us into this mess. Do not elect a president who was one of those unethical lawyers.
You find out which candidate to vote for. Do some research for your self before you vote.