NOTE: The recent talk on Kos about Hybrids and Bio-diesel made me think to dust-off a "back channel campaign" piece that was done back in late January and February 2005, which focuses on our oil addiction and continuing energy crisis.
The passing of the recent $14+B Energy Bill, with $11.5B in oil subsidies makes one furious. The complete lack of reality in the administration and management at DoE, who for example officially uses $1.58/gal as the "pump price" projection for the year 2025 and in 2002 had not one per barrel projection for 2012 above $42pb oil prices, is not just undue influence or simple greed, it's down right reckless and a serious hazard to our future national economic health and security.
Just last week, oil interests used YOUR MONEY to "myth" the far-off, nearly impossible nature of the Hydrogen Economy, while at the very same time the new Toyota CEO was taking the high road.
Where in the hell is the innovative America of Henry Ford now?
Rant, speech and material continue below...
Comments continued...
Where the hell is the innovative America of Henry Ford now? Who is our Uchiyamada-san?
"Forget about concentrating on such things as trivial increments in performance or cost cutting. If you restrict yourself to refining the prevailing paradigm, you will never come up with an earth-shattering idea or technology."
-- Takeshi Uchiyamada, Award-winning Champion of the Toyota Prius
What do we have that compares with having tea with the Emperor in his private garten? We do have some excellent people working on our future in corners of this country, but national policy is missing in action.
Japan and others get it. Even some neo-cons and conservatives, get it. Its a basic national security and an economic imperative.
The assumption that "nobody knows" the future of world oil supply (which is what oil pundits will tell you) and that everyday the United States of America, which neo-cons call the world's unipolar power, wakes up each morning to see whether or not our "oil-based economy" will be influenced by $40 or $90 per barrel prices that day is simply ridiculous.
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Automakers can create the future and capitalize on the hydrogen economy, or they can have the future dictated to them by faster moving entrepreneurs. There is an opportunity to redefine and expand the role of personal vehicles as transportation - and even as household power generators."
--Jeremy Rifkin in Hydrogen: Automakers can invent the future or have it dictated to them, Automotive News, March 08, 2004
The projections around the automotive industry, with the exception of one (there might have been a couple others) were seriously off on predicting the hybrid market. Some of us have the very same sinking feeling that a domestic automotive industry now undergoing a "Perfect Storm" will be completely washed away by new alternative vehicle technologies such as fuel cell and other propulsion solutions and... <remaining ranting redacted>.
While this speech was not perfect, its at least a starting point.
ONE CAMPAIGN PIECE from "Its not Mars or Mecca stupid, its Marathon."
CEO Calls for Major Hydrogen Project in name of Our Security, Our Economy, Our Environment and Our Future - Speech by Timothy D. Leuliette, CEO of Automotive Supplier, Metaldyne.
This speech by Tim Leuliette to the 2005 Automotive World Congress (Jan 19 2005) concerning the problem of an oil economy and the role / future of the US automotive industry in leading the way into a hydrogen economy has started a real "grassfire" and has made its way to DC and back to Detroit... PASS IT ON.
This is a critical "National Security" and "National Economy" issue, period.
Some Leuliette QUOTES:
"[...] there is actually a more significant challenge for all of us in this industry and in this country [that the standard past industry issues]. It's an issue we raise periodically and then put away when concerns fade from the nightly news. It's an issue we like not to talk about unless we have to. It's an issue that with one senseless act, one government collapse, one hiccup in a global distribution system, will become our worst nightmare. The issue is the drug that our industry, our society, is hooked on... it's called oil."
"We are at the beginning of a journey [to a hydrogen economy], and have many technological issues to overcome, but they can be overcome. Those who support this path, do so for three fundamental reasons. First, we must find an alternative energy source for national security reasons. Second, we must find an alternative energy source for environmental reasons. And third, we must find an alternative fuel source for fundamental long-term economic reasons. How you rank these reasons is your own concern, but the answer doesn't change."
"The $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative that President Bush announced in his State of the Union two years ago aims for fuel cell technology to reach the automotive consumer by 2020, and for hydrogen technology to significantly reduce this country's oil usage by 2040. The current plan outlines a timetable ten times longer than the Manhattan project.and four times longer that putting a man on the moon. Ladies and gentlemen, I am absolutely convinced that we don't have that kind of time. We don't have anywhere near that kind of time...$1.2 billion is a token gesture."
"The solution will not come from Washington.but enabling legislation and the money will. This is more important than sending a man to Mars, and it's more important than subsidizing tobacco farmers to grow a product that we are, at the same time, trying to dissuade usage because of its health risks. It is more important than particle beam weapons, and it is more important than the $15 billion Big Dig project in Boston. We are talking about true energy independence. We are talking about eliminating the leverage that radical Islam has over this country. We are talking about disconnecting this nation from the oil thirst the new China will impart upon the world's producers."
Hold George W. Bush responsible to act on these statements made February 2002 following a meeting with Automotive Fuel Cell experts at the White House:
"And this dependence (on foreign oil) is a challenge to our economic security, because dependence can lead to price shock and fuel shortages. And the dependence on foreign oil is a matter of national security. To put it bluntly, sometimes we rely upon energy sources from countries that don't particularly like us."
"We happen to believe that fuel cells are the wave of the future; that fuel cells offer incredible opportunity"
"Imagine when that technology comes into being, imagine how less dependent American will be on foreign sources of energy, and how easy it'll be to clean up our air. But we need to have a focused effort to bring fuel cells to the market, and that's exactly what my administration is dedicated to do."
--George W Bush
Every American can understand this topic, the true cost of defending foreign oil interests, and continuing misadventures in Iraq and elsewhere just fuel the flames of hate. Its time for flames of blue.
Target funding for achieving major objectives in Fuel Cells and related Hydrogen Technology development is estimated to be by some to be around $16.8B, that is just three months of what we are spending on current operations in Iraq.
Its not Mars or Mecca stupid, its Marathon.