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(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 07 30 09

DOE’s Chief Scientist Lays Out His Road Map

Steve Koonin, the chief scientist at the Department of Energy, says carbon capture, nuclear and biofuels should happen now. Electric cars should wait for the future.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Moving away from fossil fuels will only take four things: time, money, technological advances and a calibrated judgment about what projects should be pursued.

"The commonly invoked silver bullet is the wrong way to look it. We have limited time and limited resources," said Steve Koonin, undersecretary for science Department of Energy, at the Western Energy Summit at NASA Ames in Mountain View, Calif. "We cannot let 1,000 flowers bloom indiscriminately."

"The deployment of inefficient feel-good technologies is doubly bad," he added, because they give the illusion of progress and divert resources from promising projects. Manhattan Project metaphors are distracting, and have involved making "a few gadgets" for one customer in complete secrecy with an almost unlimited budget (see Why We Don't Want a Manhattan Project).

When Koonin speaks, it's worthwhile to listen. He served in various positions at Caltech for decades before becoming the chief scientist at oil giant BP. While at BP, he was one of the key figures in creating the $500 million biofuel research institute between BP, the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois. His counterpart on the academic side was Energy Secretary Steve Chu.

So how do these principles work in practice? The Department of Energy, investors and companies will have to balance the technological potential of projects against their commercial readiness and cost. Ultimately, this may mean that the world may move at a more conservative pace than might be necessary. "We only get one chance" to rebuild the energy infrastructure, he noted. Still, progress on energy security and emissions can occur.

In the transportation sector, one of the first moves could revolve around inserting tested, existing technologies – homogenous charge compression of ignition engines, selected cylinder deactivation – to improve mileage. Biofuels, potentially, might come next.

"Beyond these steps there will be electrification," he said. "The pace will be driven by advances in storage technologies and their costs."

The U.S. imports approximately $600 million a day in oil, said Koonin.

In power generation, coal is a fact of life. "It is not going to disappear anytime soon although it is the most carbon laden of fuels," he said. As a result, more effort needs to be put into carbon capture and storage. Above-ground sequestration has been demonstrated, he noted. The next stage will be implementing it. Below-ground capture and storage has to be demonstrated. Laws, regulations and social attitudes toward sequestration will also have to be established.

Nuclear fission? "It is a proven technology," he said. "If the world wants to seriously address emissions, nuclear will almost certainly have to be part of the picture."

In the meantime, wind and solar will grow in the background. Wind now accounts for around 2 percent of U.S. electricity. That's up from 0.8 percent in the recent past. Wind could get up to 20 percent of U.S. power "but I don't see how it could get higher than that," he added.

Scientists will also have to better communicate why these issues are important. The DOE has to take the blame in part for the difficulties in getting funding for a network of labs. "We did not do a very good job explaining it to Congress," he said.

Will humanity make it? One audience member asked for Koonin's opinions about the great extinction events that have occurred in Earth's history and how more are linking those extinctions to climate changes.

"One of the things I loved in retrospect most about being a professor was being able to say what I wanted," Koonin said. "Next question." 

7 Comments

  • douglas puckett 08/3/09 5:26 PM

    i have been telling how to store and elecrtic cars that never need recharged the water is the solution to this problem with capasitors in 3 stages with the use of aacid battery this is lighting in a box under control that can be built in any size. the process i call a cycle of electric that keeps building up power. this is the way to not need electric grid or gas

     Reply
  • douglas puckett 08/3/09 6:11 PM

    the power stored with magnetts in water useing with coil to accept the electric one way and the release of electric going the other way as needed this is cllecting electric example . if a swimmer is within 20 miles of a bolt of lightingin the ocean the shock of it will kill the swimmer . that means the containment of electric is on how much water you want. that can be as simple as a long pipeing net work with water under grond. from doug

     Reply
  • douglas puckett 08/3/09 7:26 PM

    electro magnet staters is the way to keep electric constant useing electo magnet capasator along with a 12 volt battery haveing 3 stages of water one is positive next neutral next negative a magnet is in each of the 3 stages a copper coil in neutral stage wired into positive and negative this to regulator then to battery and to compasator to keep charge a 12 volt battery hooked to all creates the electric car to run and the water in the 3stage compartments keeps battery and compasator charged this is now self reliant. never needs recharged and no gas needed . all aperson does is just drive no grid needed to recharge the battery at any time. this is very inexpensive to make and the magnets last 400 years and the water never needs changed. i think this is the future for all cars ,and tax can be made from a GPS on the system so the united states will make the money instead of giveing it to other countries this is what everybody is for electric and no oil ...doug

     Reply
  • douglas puckett 08/3/09 8:13 PM

    also a gasoline devise i made 2 years ago saves gas i have a 5.3 litre engine i putone on it and the truck use to get 11 miles MPG after i put the gasoline devise on it the truck gets 32 MPG . i have put these on 5 different types of autos they all got at least 70% extra gas millage . i have a person jim maggered in allen kentucky holding on to my paten and affairs on this devise i made . i still own it and there are alot of investors wanting to buy in. i just wanted you to know that this devise has been built doug

     Reply
  • Jay Turner 08/4/09 12:18 PM

    Dr. Koonin reflects oil-industry conventional wisdom.  Why should we be locked into pouring a $trillion into obsolete technology that will take a decade to ramp up, when we could open the market to let all comers provide electricity and CO2 abatement at the lowest cost?  Why lock out innovation?  Hundreds of thousands of clever entrepreneurs pursuing every creative avenue imaginable can accomplish a lot more a lot faster than old school approaches.  And, if investors want to pony up the cash to build nuclear plants, they’re welcome to compete, but I suspect that not many would succeed in a completely free market.  I get an average of 73 MPG in my Hymotion-equipped Prius, and that’s relatively old technology.  Innovation shouldn’t be dismissed as a “feel-good” approach. Let the best innovations win.

     Reply
  • douglas puckett 08/4/09 5:35 PM

    i have put 183000 miles on a single battery without recharging anytime a camera crew has been driveing this 4 door sedan all over the united states with a professor and they have hooked up to homes running thier electric to prove this new electric battery . no breakdowns have happend and i stayed away from them so there can be no conflict of interest this in my thinking has proven itself and i think of how many people are going to watch this documentary on TV. i will let the public decide if they would like one of these to have. all of the people in this film crew have said this will change the future for the good because no gasoline has been used i had to prove it .

     Reply
  • Spec 08/29/09 10:45 AM

    Doug, you may want to consult a psychiatrist.

     Reply

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