Energy strategy

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert J. Potter" <rjpotter () rjpotter com>
Date: December 14, 2008 3:17:19 PM EST
To: <dave () farber net>
Cc: "File" <rjpotter () rjpotter com>
Subject: Energy strategy
Reply-To: <RJPotter () rjpotter com>

Dave,
Here is a paper I’ve written to address the energy crisis.
Perhaps it might be of interest to your IPs.


BARACK OBAMA
CAN SOLVE THE ENERGY CRISIS
by
Robert J. Potter

There is a way to solve our energy crisis with strong leadership.   
Either candidate could have done it, and Barack Obama should do it.   
If our rich and prosperous country’s President defines the strategy,  
implements the tactics and requires results, he could free the USA of  
dependence on foreign oil, clean the atmosphere, lower the cost of  
mobile fuel and enrich our national technology all simultaneously.   
Barack Obama must recognize that this problem is a national priority…… 
equivalent to the space race with the USSR and the development of the  
atomic bomb to win World War II.

The critical steps are:

1.         Evolve autos from gasoline/diesel to hybrid to plug-in  
hybrid.
2.         Develop a battery that can run 200 miles on a 10-minute  
recharge.
3.         Strengthen America’s electrical distribution system.
4.         Recharge cars in garages, public places and service stations.
5.         Build nuclear power plants to enlarge the supply of  
electricity.
6.         Use all alternate sources of energy, i.e., wind, natural  
gas, solar.

America is a representative democracy, and there are many forces on  
our President-elect.  However, this is a time when we need the firm  
hand of a strong leader like Barack Obama, who can take command and is  
not dependence on consensus to mobilize our nation to generate  
abundant energy.  The key is to define a new fuel and vehicle system  
to serve affluent civilizations during the 21st century without being  
dependent on exhaustible or foreign resources.

The fundamental strategy is to evolve to an electric transportation  
system and an electricity-based refueling infrastructure.

The internal combustion engine that powers our cars and trucks is 100  
years old.  Our organization of gasoline stations is effective and  
well established with over 160,000 service stations throughout the USA  
on interstate highways and in our cities, which should be made  
obsolete in the twenty-first century. A swift transition to electric  
cars and the ability to conveniently recharge them is the best energy  
policy for the future.

The first step is to require or convince auto manufacturers to swiftly  
evolve from gasoline and diesel engines to hybrid electric and then to  
fully electric vehicles within ten years.

The second step is to enable our vehicles to be recharged in our  
homes, parking lots, parking garages and service stations.  The  
electrical distribution system in the USA can be expanded to provide  
capacity to gasoline stations, evolving them into recharging  
stations.  Parking spaces in the public and private environment can  
also have a plug-in charging system.

The major challenge is to develop a battery system that is small,  
light and rechargeable in 10 minutes for a 200-mile capacity, even  
though most drivers refuel often and do not require that much range.  
This technology is not available today, but American ingenuity,  
entrepreneurship and invention can make it possible.  We are  
accustomed to recharging devices and equipment from cell phones to  
electric drills.  The problem is that the battery technologies used in  
our laptops, iPods and cameras are not adequate for automobiles.  The  
technical challenge is clear and can be solved.

Here are two historic examples to suggest that this task can be done.  
Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project, to build an  
atomic bomb based on the theories of a dozen or so scientists.  In  
just a few years, creative determined people defined a complex new  
technology and built an entire industry to isolate the materials for  
the first few atomic bombs.  The ‘atomic bomb industry’ was as a large  
as the domestic automobile industry at that time.  They did it  
secretly.  It was a life or death race with the Nazis to build the  
atomic bomb.

Secondly, John F. Kennedy said, “I believe that this nation should  
commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of  
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”  The  
complex technology development was successful because of determined  
leadership and an unambiguous target: win the race with Russia to land  
a man on the moon.

Americans respond to competition.  Now, Barack Obama must realize the  
threat to our economy and lifestyle to give him the motivation and  
authority to launch an all out effort to win energy superiority.

In the 21st century, the President of the USA can authorize and  
prioritize the development of a suitable battery and recharging  
system, an easier task than the two examples above.  It will require a  
well-organized and adequately funded development program.

The electricity will come from the current electrical generation  
system of waterfalls, coal plants, wind farms, solar panels, gas  
turbines, and supplemented by an extended network of nuclear power  
plants.  The increased requirement for electricity will be satisfied  
without polluting the environment, will not contribute to global  
warming, and will not generate complex carbon waste.

If the consumer charges his battery at night in his home, using off- 
peak electricity, his cost would be about $2.00 for a full charge.  If  
he recharges during the day in a parking lot or garage over a multi- 
hour period, he would pay about $4.00.  If he wants a high-speed  
charge from an on-the-road recharging station, he would pay about  
$15.00 for 200 miles.  The high-speed charge of 40-kilowatt-hours will  
require 1,000 to 2,000 amperes at 110 to 220 volts, a significant  
upgrade to our electrical system.

We need safety regulations, patents and all of the checks and balances  
of our federal system.  Nevertheless, Barack Obama will have the power  
to fund and keep the transition on track, not to satisfy his own  
needs, but rather to benefit the citizens of the USA.

As President, Barack Obama cannot be reckless.  He must require the  
highest standards of safety.  Today’s scientists and engineers  
understand how to expand Thomas Edison’s electrical distribution  
system and can do it.  Our leader would make the grid safe and less  
vulnerable to blackouts.  An appropriate amount of analysis would be  
encouraged but political bickering and bureaucratic delays should not  
be allowed to stand in the way of the development of a process to free  
the USA of foreign oil, high prices and irrational energy tactics.

Barack Obama can change our driving patterns more dramatically than  
the Interstate Highway System did.  In 1956, President Eisenhower and  
the Congress had the wisdom to launch the Interstate Highway System,  
which replaced the hodge-podge of state highways.


Over these last 52 years, we have invested the equivalent of $425  
billion in 2006 dollars developing the infrastructure of our highways  
so we can travel by automobile or ship freight by truck throughout the  
USA on a sophisticated well planned, nicely managed, organized network  
of high capacity highways. Virtually 100 percent of the construction  
and maintenance costs were funded through fuel taxes collected by  
states and the federal government, and tolls collected on toll roads  
and bridges.

Now the time has come to expand the electrical distribution system to  
power our vehicles and provide an equally elegant organized electrical  
distribution system to service stations, parking lots, homes and  
shopping centers.  The electrical distribution system also has to  
connect the various sources of electricity such as coal burning  
plants, hydroelectric power stations, nuclear power plants, wind  
farms, solar thermal arrays and semiconductor solar cells.  All of  
these power sources are different in cost, structure and capacity.   
However, the beauty of electricity is that when we plug in our  
television sets, kitchen appliances or light bulbs, we do not care,  
nor does it matter, where or how the electricity was generated.  A  
kilowatt-hour from a wind farm and a kilowatt-hour from Niagara Falls  
are indistinguishable.

It is not necessary to build the entire supply grid in one step, nor  
is it necessary to build the distribution system to recharge stations,  
parking lots and homes simultaneously.  Just as the Interstate Highway  
System evolved over five decades and just as fiber optics long  
distance communications lines expanded over two decades, the same is  
true of an elegant powerful electrical distribution system.  It can  
grow to meet the needs along with safeguards to make it safe,  
reliable, useful, cost effective and efficiently managed.

If we are going to do things that have never been done before, we must  
use methods which have never been used before.  Powerful leaders have  
done this before.  Now is the time for President Barack Obama to  
define and drive a superior mobile energy system into place for all  
Americans.



TEL  (972) 869-8270
FAX  (972) 869-6593
CELL (972) 489-5400
E-MAIL RJPotter () RJPotter com
www.RJPotter.com

Robert J. Potter
R. J. Potter Company
Williams Square, Suite 360
5215 N. O'Connor Boulevard
Irving, Texas 75039



Copyright ©2008 Robert J. Potter







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