Control Engineering

Peter Welander

So, where does that leave us?
July 11, 2008

Wednesday evening I was home and the phone rang. It was my congressman, Peter Roskam, sort of, anyway. It was an automated call, perhaps prompted by my earlier letter, letting me know that a telephonic town hall meeting on the topic of energy issues was in progress. Congressman Roskam was answering questions posed by other folks in this district. I listened for about half an hour.

The nature of the questions suggested several things:

• Most people don't understand the scale of our energy problems;
• Many hold on to hope in bogus technology (e.g., cars that run on water); and,
• Many want immediate solutions without thought for long term issues.

For example, one caller wanted to know why we don't switch to biodiesel. Another wanted Roskam to investigate engines that run on iron oxide. Others want the government simply to force oil companies to roll back prices.

Obviously, there are no simple answers. The only truly renewable technology that exists at commercial levels that stands any chance of displacing oil to any meaningful extent is sugar based ethanol as produced in Brazil. There it has replaced 40% of their gasoline. Algae diesel is not yet practical, designer bugs are still years away, and corn based ethanol is too expensive.

We need to live with expensive gas long enough for us to start changing lifestyle patterns and becoming more conscious of how we squander energy resources. While we're scrapping our Suburbans and learning how to drive less, we can be developing these other sources. If gas prices fall, we'll be back to square one. Research will stop. Gas hogs will retake the road. We'll rejoice that we dodged another bullet. At least until next time.

Let's use this opportunity and sense of urgency to make things happen. Now.

Posted by Peter Welander on July 11, 2008 | Comments (0)