Political candidates and pundits are talking like the energy crisis is new news, and even O’Reilly rants that the Bush administration has done absolutely nothing about it. They conveniently overlook programs aimed at the development of hydrogen fuel, advanced energy technologies, and renewable fuels.
Click chart to make it bigger
For details, see the DOE summary presentation:
http://www.energy.upenn.edu/docs/EWGP-Milliken-slides.pdf
The cornerstone of the program is the Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI) — which was announced in Bush’s 2006 State of the Union address . The AEI’s stated goals are to reduce our dependence on oil (especially foreign sourced) and to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants).
Specifically, the AEI was tasked with accelerating the technical and cost viability of alternative energy technologies for vehicles (e.g. plug-in hybrid vehicles, fuel cells, and biofuels, including “cellulosic” ethanol derived from agricultural waste, forest residues and dedicated energy crops such as switchgrass), and for homes and businesses (e.g. nuclear power, clean coal, solar, and wind).
An important component of the AEI is critical basic research that should help overcome major technical barriers to the expanded use of technologies such as solar energy, cellulosic ethanol, energy storage, hydrogen fuel cells, and fusion energy.
For details of the AEI:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/energy/energy_booklet.pdf
The initial enacted budget for AEI was $1.77 billion in FY2006; the proposed FY 2009 Budget is $3.17 billion:
http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/Budget09/AdvancedEnergyInitiative1pager.pdf
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Observations
1. Critics argue that the too little, too late, misdirected … with too little emphasis on convervation standards and processes. The critics may be right, but some visibility and credit should be given for getting the ball rolling.
2. The next president will take over with the ball close to the end zone on some of the initiatives. Watch whoever it is punch it in for the touchdown, dance in the end zone, and claim credit for the entire scoring drive.
3. The Bush team may be the worst marketers in the entire free world.
4. Gotta ask: what did Al Gore do in the 8 years he was hanging around the White House? I guess it’s easier to be bold and visionary when you don’t have responsibility …
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Worth browsing: the U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) web site: http://www.eere.energy.gov/
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The Homa Files 
July 21, 2008 at 3:25 pm |
Greetings Professor Homa: I’ve been enjoying the blog, and I regret that it has taken so long to join the discussion. Thanks for starting this thread.
Almost everyone can find something to love in the AEI, but the Administration’s track record on energy innovation is patchy at best. The President’s early budgets were a full scale assault on energy R&D. Renewable technologies were victimized across the board [solar energy (-54%), geothermal (-50%), hydrogen (-50%), hydro (-67%), systems, batteries & other storage (-34%)], although infrastructure funding for the National Renewable Energy Lab was up $1M from $4M the year previous. LOL. This lame duck push to bring R&D budgets back in line (in real terms, or as a percentage of GDP) fails to impress.
The need for innovation in energy technology is dire, but I think we should recognize that R&D is often a useful policy cop-out because it does not typically threaten entrenched interests and can often be quietly apportioned to appease corporate and political constituencies.
I’m no apologist for the Clinton Administration, but it is odd that Gore can be criticized as having done too little on this issue… while Bush takes baby steps under cover of a solid scientific (and emerging political) consensus. But let’s not make hay comparing spotted-owl loving, tree hugging, Kyoto writing, Nobel Peace Prize winning, black helicopter crowd vs. the secret cabal of Machiavellian, Hummer-driving Enron-ites. Boring.
I wouldn’t begrudge the next President an exuberant celebration, but it better be for achieving a big hairy audacious goal. We’re running out of time for incrementalism.
Best,
Ron
July 21, 2008 at 4:18 pm |
3. The Bush team may be the worst marketers in the entire free world.
4. Gotta ask: what did Al Gore do in the 8 years he was hanging around the White House? I guess it’s easier to be bold and visionary when you don’t have responsibility …
You miss the ironic takeaway — High Priest Gore is as good as a marketer and salesman as the Bush Administration is bad. Reinventing yourself as a Environ-Doom Prophet of the Neo-Socialist Environmental Religion is no small feat. Profiting massively from it is even more admirable.