National Defense Energy Policy

The country demands bold, persistent experimentation in our greatest time of need. Choose alternative & renewable sources of energy now, instead of concentrating on dwindling finite resources like oil. Even the Emirates of OPEC see that as the only path to the future. As a wise friend associated with the Washington D.C. Beltway politics said recently: "The problem is, as it always has been, getting somebody to pay for it." TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Everything costs, even 'cheap' energy from oil or coal. With those you pay later, and more dearly in lives ruined or lost. Wind, Solar, or other alternatives cost a lot up front, but then can provide energy 'for free' for many years after the initial payoff period. What made gasoline powered cars wildly popular? Answer: The interstate system paid for by the us taxpayer... and a cute Chevrolet ad " See the USA in your Chevrolet America is asking you to call Drive your Chevrolet through the USA America's the greatest land of all On a highway, or a road along the levee Performance is sweeter Nothing can beat her Life is completer in a Chevy" [Thank you forever, Dinah Shore, Pat Boone, and the entire cast of Glee!] Another wise Engineer discussed this with me recently. Paraphrasing him: Did we complain? Should we now? NO! We need to emulate that Republican president and build the energy system we need for our economy today. We CAN provide ALL the energy we need with Solar and Wind, and other non-imported-oil energy sources if we stop whining and get to it. Yes, President Eisenhower was smart though: He hid the costs of the interstate highway system by placing it squarely in the national defense budget. Did you know that is was originally called the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act... (Public Law 84-627), enacted on June 29, 1956. If you look carefully at your maps, you'll notice at least 3 contiguous miles of very-straight highway outside of every city or town, so that they could be used to land aircraft in an emergency. That combined with the post-war ability to move heavy armor or troops rapidly accross the country for national defense in the event of an emergency provided the reasonable excuse to build all of these highways. Could we have done this right after World War II, with that 'Greatest Generation." Were we smarter then, or wealthier? Anwer: No, we weren't smarter, we were just a lot less poor than anyone else. That's because (other than protectorates Hawaii & the Phillipines) the war had not decimated our cities & factories, farmlands, or the infrastructure to deliver and sell those good to the world. Ike had learned from his greatest foes: Germany, and built this highway defense system modeled on the mighty autobahns. We did have the manufacturing muscle to make anything happen. We also had a larger surviving population & surplus of productive workers, as well as manufacturing capacity. Defense planners also had to find a way for folks to move out of city centers and into suburbs, to remove easy targets from our enemies reach. It was a cost effective answer to nuclear defense, but only on the foundation of cheap oil. Sadly that reliance in turn created a soft underbelly to our national infrastructure. Any President should easily be able to use the same fundamental national defense, infrastructure, and economic arguments for such an effort in the realm of alternative energy... or ANYTHING BUT IMPORTED OIL. In fact, I believe that President Carter did try, but as his Cabinet was decimated during his first 100 days in office, killing the effectiveness of the message, and the true ncessity of weaning U.S. off of our dependense on foreign oil. Instead, Carter's detractors focused on the mantra of "I can't drive 55!" and bad jokes about setting thermostats. What really happened there though is a very real opportunity was missed and OPEC became emboldened. Suddenly nomadic tent dwellers became 'Sultans' and build palaces and global empires with American & European money. SOLUTIONS: If suburban rooftops nationwide were supplemented with solar PV AND solar thermal, that would actually REVERSE that weakness into a streignth once again. Just like moving the populations out of cities in the 50's, changing from centralized power plants to a smart distributed solar energy infrastructure would remove those easy targets (monolithic power plants) from the sights of enemies, whether they are terrorists or state forces. COAL IS AN ANSWER TOO. Liquefication for short term solutions, but ultimately our vast national coal reserves should be used for Carbon Fiber & Plastics manufacturing, removing two international money-drain 'teats': 1. China's cheap steel - can be replaced by our own carbon fiber, and 2. OPEC petrolium based polymers - by new coal to plastic refineries here. Just think of it: Converting the faded 'Rust Belt' cities into vibrant manufacturing centers for super-strong ultra-light carbon fiber products! ...Of course the communication & advertising guru's need to think up a cool new name for carbon fibre... ...Because our Admen are also one of our national treasures too! ;-)