New Technologies for Our Energy Future

It’s clear that we need to change our energy policy in this country. And unfortunately, it’s clear that the Republicans, beholden as they are to big oil, will not make the changes needed. We need a “Manhattan Project” for energy, as Obama has suggested, to concentrate efforts on researching and developing sustainable and renewable energy sources. We make a serious error when we consider only current technologies for our energy future.

In the next two posts, I highlight some of the exciting advances in both research and application that have occurred recently, even in the absence of serious research funding directed toward securing a better energy future for America. American scientists and entrepreneurs are resourceful and I’m optimistic that with more direction from the top and some R&D incentives, we can innovate our way out of our current dilemma, produce sustainable long-term solutions, reduce our dependence on expensive foreign oil from unstable parts of the world, and stop giving our resources to authoritarian regimes that sponsor terrorism against us.

Our most pressing need is probably in the transportation area, and high gas prices make this a political winner too. So with what can we power our cars, trucks, trains , planes and buses? Read on…