Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Working toward oil independence

“Set America Free” is an organization with diverse membership focused on reducing and eventually eliminating U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. I cannot think of another scientific and technological innovation that could have more impact on geopolitics as well as economics around the globe than this initiative. One of the reasons I am trying to help my own children acquire good perceptions of science, mathematics, and engineering (they are all still 8 years old and younger) is that I want them to at least consider future careers as scientific inventors and technological innovators. My professional advocacy for educators embracing complexity and messy assessment stems in part from a desire to help other educators open these doors of opportunity in math, science and engineering for other young people. According to the “Set America Free” website:

THE SET AMERICA FREE COALITION brings together prominent individuals and non-profit organizations concerned about the security and economic implications of America’s growing dependence on foreign oil. The coalition, organized by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), promotes a blueprint which spells out practical ways in which real progress toward energy security can be made over the next several years.

TWO THIRDS OF U.S. OIL CONSUMPTION IS DUE TO THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR. We believe that by spearheading a global effort to transition the transportation sector to next-generation fuels and vehicles that can utilize them, the United States can deny its adversaries the wherewithal they use to harm us. Doing so will also protect our quality of life and economy against the effects of cuts in foreign energy supplies and rising costs of oil.

I am convinced the biggest challenge when it comes to alternative fuel solutions for the transportation sector is not just finding cost-effective alternative powerplants for consumer automobiles, but also creating POWERFUL engines which can replace the long-haul monster engines in 18 wheeler trucks that form the backbone of the US product distribution system.

Part of this future world will involve lightweight, extremely strong composite materials that will be used to create these alternative fuel vehicles and other things. Fiberforge is an organization dedicated to this proposition:

At Fiberforge we make lightweight advanced-composite structures an economic reality for our customers. The Company’s patented and trade secret solutions revolutionize the opportunities for use of advanced composites in high-volume structural applications. We know how to design and, more importantly manufacture, incredibly lightweight structures for high volume applications. And, ultimately, we help our customers make more money. For us, structural performance and production economics are the metrics we live by.

Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs and Security is a publication of the Rocky Mountain Institute that provides a possible blueprint for this alternative-fuel future. All of the above websites, organizations, and resources were mentioned in Tom Friedman’s Discovery Times special, “Addicted to Oil.”

Attempting to reduce and eliminate dependency on foreign oil is certainly not a new idea. But with continuing advances in technology, it may be an idea whose time has almost come. In 2001 UK writer Dan Plesch wrote:

Replacing oil as the mainstay of our energy policy should be central to a practical and strategic approach to winning the long-term struggle against terrorism, and would dramatically improving Western policy options in the Middle East. Asymmetric warfare is a buzz phrase much used to describe the new context following the atrocities visited upon US and Washington. This simply means acting in unexpected ways that do not fit into orthodox ways of fighting. A shift from oil to renewable energy sources would be a strategic way to apply this approach to conflict.

What are the reasons that the nations of the world have not and are not moving forward more quickly in a race to end oil dependency? Record oil profits are doubtless part of the reason. What are the other reasons? Why have nations like Brazil made such fantastic strides in the area of alternative fuels, while the US and other countries seem to be lagging far behind? Wouldn’t this be a super question for students to take up in collaborative projects this year?

Maine candidate for the U.S. Senate, Sheldon Whitehouse, has the right idea about how the United States should approach this challenge and opportunity of ending oil dependence:

The country [the United States] needs an “Apollo Project” similar to President John F. Kennedy’s man-on-the -moon program,.. The challenge of becoming independent of foreign oil by 2020 will require a focused effort to harness the spirit of American innovation.” Dependence on Middle East oil sources “leaves our national security subject to attack by foreign interests fueled in large part by our dependence on oil… Right now the world’s energy economy is an oil economy and that directs the profits into many countries that are our enemies.”

Our oil economy also directs a TON of money to our own national leaders in the United States. The oil company ties of President George W Bush and US SECDEF Dick Cheney are well known, but did you know about US SECSTATE Condoleeza Rice’s long history with oil companies as well? It’s not a coincidence the oil tanker Altair Voyager was named “Condoleezza Rice” by Chevron several years ago. (This fact is not included on Rice’s official White House bio page, btw.)

As students and teachers in U.S. schools and elsewhere across the globe start a new school year, let’s resolve to support and defend science fairs against those detractors who think these activities amount largely to useless busywork. Let’s encourage kids to do the work: To ask the questions and seek the answers. We need more
girls to “go tech”
as well as boys. Politicians and other leaders can wax on about support for STEM, but the rubber meets the road in our classrooms and our homes when it comes to student learning and the enthusiasm kids have (or don’t have) for these topics. Enthusiasm and passion are contagious, so let’s infect more people (young and old) with an interest and desire to become the next Thomas Edisons, Marie Curies, and Albert Einsteins that our global villiage desperately needs!

[composed and posted with ecto]

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3 responses to “Working toward oil independence”

  1. Jim Lerman Avatar
    Jim Lerman

    Did you see where MIT has committed itself as an institution to developing alternative sources of energy as its essential mission for the future?

  2. PJID Avatar
    PJID

    In fairness, Sheldon Whitehouse’s plan came nearly 7 months months after the President also called for “replacing more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025” during the State of the Union. The President’s budget also includes record requests for alternative fuel technoloy such as solar, nuclear, hydrogen, and biofuels:
    Energy budget: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/pdf/Energy-07.pdf
    ACI: http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/aci/
    Hydrogen: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/technology/economic_policy200404/chap2.html

    Your link to the Whitehouse quote has him asking for tax credits for hybrids. The only thing is that those tax credits are already available: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml

  3. JT Avatar

    One of the key problems with alternative energy technologies is distribution. The large oil companies, like it or not, are going to be instrumental in this part of the transition to alternative fuels. That’s why more than a couple of them have started referring to themselves as “energy companies” instead of “oil companies.”

    They are also one of the few global entities that has the money to fund the massive investments in infrastructure to make alternative energy a reality. Connections to energy companies should not automatically be looked upon as “evil.” And it smacks of neo-McCarthyism to accuse by innuendo and “guilt by association as you have done with:

    Our oil economy also directs a TON of money to our own national leaders in the United States. The oil company ties of President George W Bush and US SECDEF Dick Cheney are well known, but did you know about US SECSTATE Condoleezza Rice’s long history with oil companies as well? It’s not a coincidence the oil tanker Altair Voyager was named “Condoleezza Rice” by Chevron several years ago. (This fact is not included on Rice’s official White House bio page, btw.)

    FYI, it is the “custom” at Chevron (or at least it was at the time) to name tankers after members of the board of directors. Also, the SECDEF is Donald Rumsfeld (who has ordered the Air Force to actively pursue alternative fuels) and not Dick Cheney – who is the VP.

    Energy policy is increasingly tied to our national security. Who would ever have thought that a President from Texas would propose the largest alternative fuel research programs in our nation’s history? Connections to the energy industry and large US corporations, like GM, that have made huge commitments to alternative fuel vehicles are not necessarily a bad thing.