Thursday
Mar052009
Udall: Green is the new red, white, and blue
Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 4:22PM
By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
At the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the future directions of energy research and development, Ranking Member Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) said that, “If we are going to be the leader in energy technology, investment in Research and Development (R&D) is a must, and the two are certainly not mutually exclusive.”
The legislative proposal considered today will not only reauthorizes the research and development components of the energy policy act of 2005 but it doubles the authorization funding from 2009 to 2013.
Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu emphasized the importance of the U.S. becoming less carbon intensive and less dependent on foreign oil. “In the near term, President Obama and this Congress have already taken key steps to passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” which Chu says will help put people to work at making homes more energy efficient. “Getting this money into the economy quickly, carefully, and transparently is the top priority for me.” said Chu.
Chu also stated that funding needs to be increased in the sciences because, “we need to do more transformational research at the DOE to bring a range of clean energy technologies to the point where the private sector can pick them up.” He stated that this will help to make abundant, affordable, low-carbon bio-fuels a reality.
Senator Mark Udall (D- Colo.) remarked that there is a need for a long term R&D investment, and it is clear that National Labs will start playing an important role in regard regard to energy efficiency. He went on to state that, “There is a saying that has been making the rounds for the last years, which is green is the new red, white and blue, in other words, one of the most patriotic things we can do is to develop this new energy economy, and maybe we will see you sitting on a poster; “Sam needs you”.”
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that clean coal and nuclear power are far more important than maybe some people appreciate. He stated that, “Now we are going to have spent nuclear fuel sitting around in pools all over America and also tell the nuclear power industry, we have no way of either reprocessing or storing spent nuclear fuel around America, and we expect nuclear power to be an integral part of this nations energy future.” McCain went on to question the need for funding research when the Europeans and Japanese are already doing it in a safe and efficient fashion.
At the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the future directions of energy research and development, Ranking Member Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) said that, “If we are going to be the leader in energy technology, investment in Research and Development (R&D) is a must, and the two are certainly not mutually exclusive.”
The legislative proposal considered today will not only reauthorizes the research and development components of the energy policy act of 2005 but it doubles the authorization funding from 2009 to 2013.
Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu emphasized the importance of the U.S. becoming less carbon intensive and less dependent on foreign oil. “In the near term, President Obama and this Congress have already taken key steps to passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” which Chu says will help put people to work at making homes more energy efficient. “Getting this money into the economy quickly, carefully, and transparently is the top priority for me.” said Chu.
Chu also stated that funding needs to be increased in the sciences because, “we need to do more transformational research at the DOE to bring a range of clean energy technologies to the point where the private sector can pick them up.” He stated that this will help to make abundant, affordable, low-carbon bio-fuels a reality.
Senator Mark Udall (D- Colo.) remarked that there is a need for a long term R&D investment, and it is clear that National Labs will start playing an important role in regard regard to energy efficiency. He went on to state that, “There is a saying that has been making the rounds for the last years, which is green is the new red, white and blue, in other words, one of the most patriotic things we can do is to develop this new energy economy, and maybe we will see you sitting on a poster; “Sam needs you”.”
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that clean coal and nuclear power are far more important than maybe some people appreciate. He stated that, “Now we are going to have spent nuclear fuel sitting around in pools all over America and also tell the nuclear power industry, we have no way of either reprocessing or storing spent nuclear fuel around America, and we expect nuclear power to be an integral part of this nations energy future.” McCain went on to question the need for funding research when the Europeans and Japanese are already doing it in a safe and efficient fashion.
Reader Comments (1)
While the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment rightfully works toward emission reduction strategies the real problem is not tomorrows CO2 but yesterdays CO2. We must turn our attention to the 1000+ gigatonne carbon bomb, two centuries of our accumulating CO2, still mostly in the air as it takes centuries for airborne CO2 to equilibrate with the rest of the planet.
Today only 500 gigatonnes of yesterdays CO2 has reached the oceans and Revelle’s Rule tells science that 80% of CO2 ends up there. The rest of that deadly already airborne carbon bomb will continue to explode with devastating effects in the ocean for more than a century even if we were to stop the emission of all new CO2 today. No amount of switching to alternative energies, recycling, bicycling, or “clean coal” will tend to the first carbon bomb. Sure lets reduce the size of the second bomb but first things first. Here's how!
ONLY through ocean replenishment and restoration we can enlist as allies the most powerful force of nature on earth - the ocean plants, the bloomin’ plankton. But the high and rising CO2 in the air is not only responsible for ocean acidification, more troublesome it has fed green plants on land making them greener, bushier, and helped them live longer making what we call "good ground cover." Ground cover improvements have reduced the amount of dust blowing in the winds by 1/3 in just a few decades. For the oceans dust in the wind brings vital mineral micro-nutrients to the oceans, that terrestrial Yin is just as important as rain, the Yang, that blows from sea to land nurturing plant life. Since earth and ocean observing satellites went aloft 30 years ago we've measured vast decimation of ocean plant life, 10% and more is gone from the Southern Ocean, 17% from the N. Atlantic, 26% from the N. Pacific, and 50% from the tropical seas. Just yesterday, those few decades ago, the ocean pastures grew more verdant consuming 4-5 billion tonnes more CO2 each year than today.
So today, as stewards of this blue planet, we must replenish ocean micro-nutrients to restore the ocean pastures. If we manage, and we surely can, to bring the ocean plankton blooms back to levels seen only 30 years ago those plants will annually convert billions of tonnes of CO2 into ocean life instead of acid ocean death. Those verdant restored ocean pastures will deliver 7 times the CO2 reductions called for by the Kyoto Protocol. To begin, and we must without delay, the work requires only tens of millions, to succeed in a matter of a decade requires only a few billions. In the bargain the restored oceans will feed everything from tiny krill to the great whales and everything and everybody in between - fish, seabirds, penguins, seals and us.
Replenish and restore the oceans without delay. Read more at www.planktos-science.com