Certainly alternative fuel vehicles, including hybrid, electric and fuel cell, are important resources to develop. But transportation only accounts for about 28% of US energy consumption. A comprehensive plan will address energy consumption in industry (33%), residential housing (21%) and commercial buildings (18%) as well.
The greatest hurdle to overcome in electric car technology has to do with the batteries. For decades auto manufacturers have used the tried and true lead-acid battery. It’s rechargeable, relatively long lasting and inexpensive to produce. But the greatest downfall of lead-acid batteries is their weight.
One of the latest technologies on this front is the zinc-air battery. These use oxygen in the air to react with cathodes to produce electricity. They have a high power to weight ratio, are safe and environmentally responsible. Several companies are working on moving the technology to the automobile arena.
Fuel cell technology is rapidly improving. Used for some time in a variety of exotic, static and military applications, in recent years researchers have working hard to develop technologies for automotive application. The intent is to either fully replace the petroleum fueled vehicle or to replace batteries in hybrid vehicles.
Hybrid vehicles are coming on strong and while they are relatively new, the technology is rapidly improving. Combining improved battery technology with small, efficient gas engines and powerful electric motors, hybrid vehicles look to have great prospects for long range, fuel-efficient vehicles.
Just about everyone has heard of solar power or wind power. Both seem to have great potential for generating large amounts of electricity using the right technologies.
When we hear "solar," most of us think of solar cells, i.e. photovoltaic, energy production. The technology with the greatest potential for producing electricity though is in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). This technology produces electricity by concentrating the suns heat to generate huge amounts of steam that in turn is used to power electricity generating plants.
It’s estimated that arrays of these concentrating plants covering a combined area of only 100 by 100 miles square could generate enough electricity to supply the electrical power needs of the whole United States (Listen to an NPR story on this). One company, Arusa, is building a 177 megawatt plant in southern California to power 120,000 homes while Abengoa is building similar plants in Europe and South America.
Tidal generators are another up and coming technology using the action of waves and tides to generate electricity. While most of these have no direct application to transportation, they can relieve some of the environmental burden and produce electricity to charge electric vehicles.
Nuclear energy has been used around the world to produce electricity for decades. France, for one, has 59 nuclear plants producing 75% of its electricity, exporting much of that.
On the other hand, the US’s 100 nuclear plants produce only 20% of total electricity generated. After the Three Mile Island incident in 1979 plant construction came to a screeching halt. Now, nearly 30 years later, we are beginning to revisit nuclear energy. But the environmental lobby continues to roadblock plans along with the need to overcome lingering public fears whipped up by the media.
The technology has improved way beyond TMI and the US has never build any plants using the same technology as those in Chernobyl. Another recent development is the change in some of the leadership of the environmental lobby. Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace, is now promoting nuclear power as an important part of solving the climate problem.
These are only some of the better-known technologies under research and development. Anyone of them has potential to impact the US energy need, working together they can provide a comprehensive solution to our current and future energy needs. But they require time for further development and to explore their potential affects on our economy and society, both pro an con. When we rush new technologies out too often the impact of unintended consequences is missed. By taking time to fully vet the technology we can hopefully anticipate and discover ways to diminish those negatives.
The greatest asset we have as a nation is our ability to innovate and develop new answers to the problems that trouble us. Our greatest enemy is jumping to quickly to a quick fix without dealing with the root problem. That is the nature of politics and while it didn’t used to be, is becoming the cry of the American people.
As a society we must begin to again take the long view to the challenges that face us. The “microwave mentality” works fine for cooking, but for serious problems we need to put it in the oven and let it “slow cook.” We must find full, comprehensive solutions that use every asset and resource available to us. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.
My next and final post in this series will discuss the impact of economic policy on the price of crude oil fuel at the pump.
Further reading: A Blind Man's Guide to Energy Policy
Interested in holding your politicians "feet to the fire?" Follow the link below to American Solutions where you can join others petitioning Congress to act now to expand use of our domestic resources.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
No comments:
Post a Comment