Smoke and Mirrors on Energy

My Way News:

"Saying the nation is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that would 'startle' most Americans, President Bush on Monday outlined his energy proposals to help wean the country off foreign oil.

"Less than half the crude oil used by refineries is produced in the United States, while 60 percent comes from foreign nations, Bush said during the first stop on a two-day trip to talk about energy."

Curiously, two well-proven technologies with decades of real-world experience were not even mentioned in this article. They are nuclear electric generating plants - none of which has been started since Three Mile Island almost 30 years ago. The other is the manufacture of refined petroleum products from coal which was demonstrated by Britain in WW1, used extensively by Germany in WW2 and also by South Africa during the anti-apartheid sanctions.

South Africa also extensively used a form of biomass which is, to my recollection, never mentioned by President Bush. Rather than elaborate plans to convert some plant like sawgrass to ethanol for use as a gasoline additive or in dual-fuel engines, it is much easier, cheaper and has less environmental impact to cold press sunflower seeds to produce oil that burns directly in diesel engines and the remaining sunflower material is a high protein feed for cattle.

The article speaks of "proposals to speed the development of biofuels such as 'cellulosic' ethanol made from wood chips or sawgrass" without noting, for example, that wood chips are already a significant source of energy for the wood processing industry and likely to be in greater demand for home heating fuel as electricity, oil and natural gas prices rise. Why waste all the energy it takes to turn them into ethanol instead of the little bit it takes to make chips into pellets for modern woodstoves?

It's also humorous to read gushing reports of the "new" nickel metal hydride battery and the "newer" lithium ion batteries the government is paying to develop. Rechargeable batteries of both these types are available at Radio Shack - they power my radio control model cars and boats.

Of course, the government has a great interest in longer life and greater storage density for batteries to power the increasingly electronic armed forces, including man portable drone aircraft for real time squad level surveillance of the battlefield.

In other words, just as in the Carter administration, there will be deep subsidies for those who have friends in high places and little or nothing done to benefit the taxpayer.