Feb. 17, 2007 - 20:22 MST

WILL IT FLY ?

Read this article in The Rocky Mountain News on February 6, 2007 and have seen nothing pertinent since then. Article by Gargi Chakrabarty of that paper, quoted here in full:

$100 MILLION BOOST POSSIBLE

Renewable energy lab in Golden may get funding hike

"Renewable energy is the flavor du jour, and the annual check that Golden's National Renewable Energy Laboratory could get from Washington likely reflect that popularity."

"The lab's budget could jump 50 percent, or by $100 million, in fiscal 2007 if the Senate and President Bush back the House's decision late last week to hike funding for two renewable energy programs that in turn fund NREL."

"The money could keep scientists from getting pink slips and boost the ongoing solar, wind and biomass programs at NREL. The backdrop to increased money is the national push to wean the country off foreign oil and become more energy independent."

"I'd say NREL could get $100 million more in fiscal 2007," said U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo."

"The Senate has until Feb. 15 to pass the two House measures."

"One increases the energy efficiency and renewable energy programs by $300 million , while the other boosts the Office Of Science programs by $200 million. NREL draws more than 90 percent of its budget from EERE and about 5 percent from OOS programs."

"Those measures have bipartisan support from colorado lawmakers, including Sen. Wayne Allard, a Republican, as well as Sen. Ken Salazar and Reps. Perlmutter, Mark Udall and Diana DeGette, Democrats."

"I did my job in making sure that money was going to the Energy Department and to those programs," Perlmutter said Monday. "Now NREL has to make its best case for the funding."

"Allard said: "I've long been supportive of increasing funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Science. These are two strong programs at the Department of Energy, and they provide a source of competitive funding for good scientific research."

"The Department of Energy which owns NREL, would distribute the money if approved by Congress. Department spokesman Chris Powers said he wasn't sure how much money NREL would get."

"If it passes, that would be a significant increase," Powers said. "EERE would not have seen an increase like that in a long, long time."

"In recent years, NREL's budget has experienced ups and downs."

"In dollars not adjusted for inflation, NREL's budget was $209.3 million for fiscal 2006, $200.3 million in 2005, $214 million in 2004 adn $229 million in 2003."

"Since Congress didn't pass a budget for fiscal 2007, funding for NREL programs has been kept at 2006 levels."

"In February 2006, NREL's budget stood at #174 million , which forced the lab to lay off 32 employees. The Energy Department gave the lab $5 million two days before President Bush visited that month to help reinstate the employees, although eight laid-off scentists chose not to return."

NREL later received more money in fiscal 2006 from Office of Scence programs that bolstered its budget."

"The fluctuations make planning difficult, but that's part of the beast," said Rick Grice, former executive director of the Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation, who was appointed by former Governor Bill Owens. "NREL is a political animal at the mercy of whoever is in charge."

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In additional coverage on this article there are a few facts: SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERIES

Designed the world's most efficent solar cell.

Designed wind turbine blades now used worldwide.

Conducted fundamental research that led to hybrid-electric vehicles.

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Also are listed the NREL PROGRAMS

SOLAR: Work on concentrator sysems that help focus more sunlight on a solar cell, making the cell produce more energy more cheaply.

WIND: Research h ow to make wind turbines more efficient to make wind power cheaper.

BIOMASS: Make ethanol from nonedible portions of plants, such as corn stalks, leaves, wood chips and forest waste. Build a biorefinery in collaborations with DuPont to make biofuels, palstics and fabrics from biomass.

HYDROGEN: Work to produce hydrobgen using renewable energy sources such as solar or wind to electolyse water, and then store the hydrogen in fuel-cell vehicles.

GREEN BUILDINGS: Build zero-energy homes, which through efficency and renewable energy programs generate as much energy as they consume in a year.

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I wonder if the eight scientists who chose to not come back were the most important in the whole crew ?

Maybe it is too soon to expect to see any results or maybe I missed something ?

Seems to me that solar energy and wind power are the maximum means of renewable energy. Ethanol, from all I have read about it costs more in energy than it produces, plus the fact that present day methods are pushing corn growing to the limits, and taking away from edible corn off our tables as well as raising the price of it.

Solar Energy Institute was established in 1974 and opened in Golden, Colorado three years later in 1977. Apparently some of our biggies realized how vulnerable we were, thinking about the OPEC crisis earlier. Good thinking it was, but to my mind not pursued strongly enough or as rapidly as it should have been.

Solar energy doesn't use petroleum resources to use, and wind power uses just enough fossil product to oil the moving parts.

Might just be one reason that oil companies have been so slow to back the research. Same-same on hydrogen hybrids.

Of course, automobile companies have made improvements over the years. When I was young an automobile that had run 100,000 miles had been overhauled several times. Now they are just well broken in I guess.

One problem that I haven't seen solved yet is distributing power from wind farms to users in cities, perhaps this hydrogen production can be adapted.

Thing that gets me is the macho types in our society scream for more power and more speed, so now we have commercial HumVees guzzling gas and hogging the roads. Wonder how soon APCs and other military vehicles will come on the civilian market ? Wonder how much a tank will cost ?

NREL is a beautiful butterfly, wonder, WILL IT FLY ? . . . . . . . . . . .

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