Alexander Proposes New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy Independence at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Outlines Seven "Grand Challenges" for Reducing Fuel Costs and Protecting the Environment

Alexander Proposes New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy Independence at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Outlines Seven "Grand Challenges" for Reducing Fuel Costs and Protecting the Environment
"Instead of ending a war, the new Manhattan Project's goal will be clean energy independence - so that we can deal with rising gasoline prices, electricity prices, clean air, climate change and national security - for our country first, and - because other countries have the same urgent needs and therefore will adopt our ideas - for the rest of the world." -- Lamar Alexander
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today addressed scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he proposed a new "Manhattan Project" composed of seven "grand challenges" for the next five years. The proposal calls for the government and scientists to pursue technological innovation and the scientific breakthroughs necessary to reduce fuel prices and protect the environment while allowing America to break free from a reliance on foreign oil.
*"I am in Oak Ridge today to propose that the United States launch a new Manhattan Project: a 5-year project to put America firmly on the path to clean energy independence."
*"Instead of ending a war, the goal will be clean energy independence - so that we can deal with rising gasoline prices, electricity prices, clean air, climate change and national security - for our country first, and - because other countries have the same urgent needs and therefore will adopt our ideas - for the rest of the world."
*"By independence I do not mean that the United States would never buy oil from Mexico or Canada or Saudi Arabia. By independence I do mean that the United States could never be held hostage by any country for our energy needs."
*"In 1942, many were afraid that the first country to build an atomic bomb could blackmail the rest of the world. Today, countries that supply oil and natural gas can blackmail the rest of the world."
*"This year Americans will pay $500 billion overseas for oil - that's $1,600 for each one of us - some of it to nations that are hostile or even trying to kill us by bankrolling terrorists. Sending $500 billion abroad weakens our dollar. It is half our trade deficit. It is forcing gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon and crushing family budgets."
*"Then there are the environmental consequences. If worldwide energy usage continues to grow as it has, humans will inject as much CO2 into the air from fossil fuel burning between 2000 and 2030 as they did between 1850 and 2000. There is plenty of coal to help achieve our energy independence, but there is no commercial way (yet) to capture and store the carbon from so much coal burning - and we have not finished the job of controlling sulfur, nitrogen, and mercury emissions."
*"Step-by-step solutions or different tracks toward one goal are easier to digest and have fewer surprises. And, of course, the original Manhattan Project itself proceeded along several tracks toward one goal.
"Here are my criteria for choosing several grand challenges:
"Grand consequences, too - The United States uses 25 percent of all the energy in the world. Interesting solutions for small problems producing small results should be a part of some other project.
"Real scientific breakthroughs - This is not about drilling offshore for oil or natural gas in an environmentally clean way or building a new generation of nuclear power plants, both of which we already know how to do - and, in my opinion, should be doing.
"Five years - Grand challenges should put the United States within five years firmly on a path to clean energy independence so that goal can be achieved within a generation.
"Family Budget - Solutions need to fit the family budget, and costs of different solutions need to be compared.
"Consensus - The Augustine panel that drafted the 'Gathering Storm' report wisely avoided some germane topics, such as excessive litigation, upon which they could not agree, figuring that Congress might not be able to agree either."
*"To begin the discussion, I suggest asking what steps Congress and the federal government should take during the next five years toward these seven grand challenges so that the United States will be firmly on the path toward clean energy independence within a generation."
1. Make Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles Commonplace - Expand existing technology in plug-in hybrid cars that could tap into unused nighttime electricity - such as the 7000-8000 megawatts available at TVA - to reduce our overseas oil bill from $500 billion to $250 billion. "We have the plug. The cars are coming. All we need is the cord."
2. Make Carbon Capture and Storage a Reality for Coal-Burning Power Plants - Encourage capture of carbon dioxide produced from fossil-fuel-burning by storing carbon excess underground or by capturing carbon in algae. "After conservation, coal with carbon capture is the best option for clean energy independence because it provides for the growing power needs of the U.S. and will be easily adopted by other countries."
3. Make Solar Power Cost-Competitive With Power from Fossil Fuels - Press for storage capacity and and a reduction in the $25,000-$30,000 cost to outfit a house for solar powering. "Now, there is new photovoltaic research as well as promising solar thermal power plants, which capture the sunlight using mirrors, turn heat into steam, and store it underground until the customer needs it."
4. Safely Process and Store Nuclear Waste - Reprocess and recycle 90 percent of nuclear waste, creating less to store temporarily while long-term storage is resolved "Nuclear plants produce 20 percent of America's electricity, but 70 percent of America's clean electricity - that is, electricity that does not pollute the air with mercury, nitrogen, sulfur, or carbon. To build more nuclear power plants we must solve the problem of what to do with nuclear waste."
5. Make Advanced Biofuels Cost-Competitive With Gasoline - "Ethanol from cellulosic materials shows great promise, but there are a limited number of cars capable of using alternative fuels and of places for drivers to buy it."
6. Make New Buildings Green Buildings - "Many of the technologies needed to do this are known. Figuring out how to accelerate their use in a decentralized society is most of this grand challenge."
7. Provide Energy From Fusion - Encourage innovation to recreate on Earth the way the sun creates energy and use it for commercial power. "Sustaining a controlled fusion reaction for commercial power generation is so fantastic that the five-year goal should be to do everything possible to reach that long-term goal."
*"This country of ours is a remarkable place. And this is still the only country where people say with a straight face that anything is possible - and really believe it."
*"These are precisely the ingredients that America needs during the next five years to place ourselves firmly on a path to clean energy independence within a generation - and in doing so, to make our jobs more secure, to help balance the family budget, to make our air cleaner and our planet safer and healthier - and to lead the world to do the same."