The aerospace industry needs new programs for industrial health and growth.  Many opinion-makers endorse a program to develop a new energy system.  They envision a Maximum Effective Effort, on the scale of the Apollo program.  Because such programs are the specialty of the aerospace industry, the intent of this editorial is to encourage the evaluation of the world’s energy infrastructure in preparation for the program to develop a new energy system.

 

The non-human energy used in the United States is energetically equal to about 90 servants working for each of us each day; thus, our high standard of living.  Much of our servant’s energy comes from the combustion of fossil fuels; the carbon dioxide waste is vented; once vented it is nearly impossible to remove it from the atmosphere.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tells us that the carbon dioxide is degrading the climate and a crisis is looming.  We must stop venting carbon dioxide. 

 

All possible means of improving efficiency should be encouraged.  However, efficiency alone is not adequate.  Some think that fluorescent light bulbs, recycling, and hybrid cars are the answer.  These palliatives are useful, but will not stop the threat of climate change; they will only move the crisis point further into the future.  A systems study must avoid the illusion that these efforts alone will provide a solution.

 

Others believe that extensive harvesting of renewable energy is an answer.  Renewables are free of carbon dioxide emissions and thus, are highly desirable.  The drawback is: they are unreliable in both time and space.  Large dams, birds and bats killed (by windmills) teach us that large scale harvesting of renewable energy can cause environmental harm.  Issue: how much renewable energy can we harvest?

 

Others promote growing crops for energy.  Humanity is able to produce only slightly more food than that required to support our 6.5 billion members.  The mismatch between the energy needed and the energy available from farm crops is extreme.  Issue: is it practical to grow crops for fuel?

 

The current energy industry fails to respond to the full nature of the problem.   They suggest we continue to depend on fossil fuels and pump carbon dioxide into the ground (sequesterization); they hope it will never escape. They offer no proof of safety.  In 1984 Lake Nyos in Cameroon released sequestered carbon dioxide and suffocated 1700 people, all their livestock, wild life and destroyed most of the nearby vegetation.  Today, in Indonesia, high pressure underground gas is causing a mud volcano that is destroying thousands of acres.  Issue: does sequesterization simply defer the carbon dioxide problem for a future generation to manage?

 

The current energy industry promotes uranium based fission nuclear energy because it releases no carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, there is no acceptable solution for the transportation and storage of fission’s high level radioactive waste.  Today’s once through reactor technology will deplete the uranium supply within a century.  Breeder reactors are required to respond to uranium depletion.  Breeder reactors magnify the waste problems and add the threat of bomb grade uranium and plutonium circulating as articles of commerce. Issue: is fission nuclear energy too hazardous to use as a base load source?

 

To maintain the habitability of earth, we must terminate the venting of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.  To identify a carbon free replacement system we should examine all reasonable energy sources, methods of storage and methods of distribution.  Issue: what is the nature of a carbon free energy system?

 

Thermonuclear fusion reactors will produce no carbon dioxide, much less radioactivity than fission, and have the potential for a very long life.  They have no simple application in producing weapons. 

 

In 1992, a thermonuclear fusion reactor fueled with a mix of deuterium and tritium successfully produced energy.  Sir David King, the chief science advisor for the United Kingdom, recommends fusion for future energy needs (‘Fast Forward to Fusion’ New Scientist, Issue 2442, 10 April 2004).  To exploit the 1992 success, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) development was proposed.  In July 2005, it was reported that the ITER will be constructed at Cadarache, France.  A second fusion reaction, using protons and boron 11, offers a radiation free energy source. Issue: can we coerce the development of thermonuclear energy in the near term?

 

Transmission of energy by electricity has grave shortcomings.  Weather knocks out fragile transmission lines. Transmission line right-of-ways scar the country side.  Electricity is dangerous, cannot be effectively stored and thus has limited use in transportation.  We need a storable transportation fuel that can be easily made with energy from a variety of sources.  With electricity, hydrogen can be made from water.  Hydrogen has been demonstrated as a fuel for all forms of transportation.  Operations that require electricity can generate it locally in hydrogen-air fuel cells with hydrogen supplied from a reliable pipeline. 

 

In a system with carbon dioxide free energy sources (renewables and fusion) and piped hydrogen for energy storage and distribution, all materials are recycled.  The oxygen by-product can be used in solid waste incineration and for purifying water.  Issue: should energy distribution by electricity be replaced with distribution by pipeline supplied hydrogen?

 

To keep Space Ship Earth in good condition our current energy system must be replaced.  I request that the aerospace industry apply its expertise in science, engineering and systems analysis to determine the best replacement for the current system.  With a program, similar in scope to the Apollo program, it may be possible to solve the global warming problem and provide energy independence for most nations before 2050.

 

Critics will complain that replacing the current system will be costly.  If we wait until nature forces us to replace our carbon based system the cost will be far greater; our ability to pay and do the required work will be reduced.  To protect earth’s life forms, including humanity, the aerospace industry should lobby for, and support, a Maximum Effective Effort program to develop an energy system based on innovative science and engineering.

 

I have pestered General Motors for several years.  I want them to sell me one of their Sequel fuel cell vehicles.  So far they have not even bothered to respond.  I gave up and last week purchased a Pirus.  So far I am quite satisfied with the car.  I just wish that I could have purchased such an automobile from an American manufacturer.   

 

Gasoline is now 3.09 here in North East Ohio.  Matt Simmons (a reputed expert on oil) says oil will be aabut $180 about 2010 -11 Thsi will give us gasoline at $7 to $8 per gallon.  Not a good time for Hummer owners!