James Winebrake, Matthew Stepp on Alternative Energy and Policy |
| Blooker Comments - Alternative Energies | |||
Interview with James J. Winebrake, chair of the Department of Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy and director of the Lab for Environmental Computing and Decision Making, Rochester Institute of Technology ... and Matthew Stepp, research assistant at the lab. The economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama contains billions of dollars for energy projects including smart grid, clean coal, electric car battery research and tax credits for wind, biomass and other alternative methods. But the fact is that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others began privately with no federal help and became huge. Why does alternate energy need federal money help while the tech startups did not?JW, MS: Energy is very different than IT or other sectors of the economy. First, consumers demand energy services, not energy per se. What this means is that consumers want transportation services, or lighting services, or heating services. They are somewhat indifferent as to what fuel actually provides those services. They do not know (and may not care) when they turn on a light whether the electricity used to power the light is generated from coal or nuclear or wind. Based on price alone, the market chooses cheaper, dirtier, non-renewable fossil fuels to provide useful energy. This is partly due to the fact that the environmental externalities (i.e., social costs) associated with fossil fuel consumption (such as climate change or regional air pollution) are not incorporated fully into the price of fossil fuels. When externalities exist, there is justification for the public sector to intervene with various policy mechanisms (e.g., R&D spending, economic subsidies, etc.) in order to make markets more efficient.  Second, especially for transportation, there is a significant market barrier to entry for clean fuels due to the relationship between cars, land-use planning and refueling infrastructure. Vehicles and refueling infrastructure are complementary goods ... you can't have one without the other. The U.S. has developed a pretty ubiquitous refueling and service infrastructure to support our reliance on gasoline vehicles, and our land-use planning has been shaped accordingly, with many areas of the control experiencing sprawl. The convenience costs of refueling a gasoline vehicle are pretty minimal, given that there are refueling stations almost everywhere you look. But consider the problems that occur if we want to switch to an alternative fuel. Where is the infrastructure to support alternative fuel vehicles? Without this infrastructure in place, there tend to be high convenience costs associated with alternative fuel vehicle ownership. These costs represent market barriers to entry and they have to be overcome. The federal government is one entity that can help overcome these barriers by working with the private sector to help create market demand for both vehicles and refueling infrastructure.Third, the long-term economic and national security costs associated with our reliance on foreign petroleum are not fully incorporated into the market price for oil. This is another market failure that demands government intervention to fix the market either by supporting alternatives to petroleum, or taxing petroleum so that these social costs are incorporated into the market price of gasoline. Also, investments in solar power or wind power (used to make electricity) will not help address the problem of dependence on foreign oil unless our transportation sector becomes electrified through the use of plug-in electric vehicles of some fashion. Therefore, in addition to investments in renewable energy production, the government should invest in end-use technology research and development so that products that can use this renewable energy are available to consumers. Lastly, the idea that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft began privately with no federal help is misleading. The origins of chip development, supercomputers and computing infrastructure date back to major investments by the federal government in these areas, most recently through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA continues to fund projects at universities and corporations that lead to computing advances that may one day be integrated into Google, Yahoo and Microsoft operations. If alternative energy does need financial help, even the federal government can't do everything. Which methods of alternative energy do you think should have the highest priority and why? Are there any areas that you think don't need help or are too unproven or otherwise unworthy of a federal boost? JW, MS: We hate to pick winners, and would prefer to let the market decide what the best fuel is. This is appropriate when all the costs of fuel use are captured in the market price for those fuels. What we do realize is that certain energy sources are more appropriate for certain regions. For example, electric vehicles make great sense in places where electricity is produced with low-carbon fuels, while biofuels (such as ethanol from cellulosic plant matter or waste) may be best in areas that have plenty of land and a large agricultural sector. The point is that government should create incentives that allow different regions to expand the use of renewable energy in ways that make sense for their region. All that said, we are very supportive of local efforts to increase the use of biomass as a fuel for both power generation and transportation, as well as the overall electrification of our energy systems. A greater reliance on electricity allows us to use renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar more easily. Please describe the type of work your lab does in this field and tell us what useful results have emerged. JW, MS: The Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making is a multi-disciplinary research organization at RIT that brings together students and faculty from all across campus to engage in energy and environmental problem-solving. We tend to tackle problems that require the application of high-end computing as well as problems where visualization can help point to solutions. We have been extremely active in the transportation sector, working on projects with the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the State of California to study the role of alternative fuels in our transportation sector. We also have a special Sustainable Intermodal Freight Transportation Research (SIFTR) Initiative in partnership with the University of Delaware that is aimed at improving the efficiency of goods movement internationally and throughout the U.S. There are hopes and dreams for what alternative energy can be in the U.S. But realistically, can oil, natural gas, nuclear and coal ever really be displaced for the brunt of energy usage? JW, MS: Given how strongly fossil fuels are embedded in our domestic and international economies, it will take a long time to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy. However, it is something that will have to be done. Fossil fuels are non-renewable, so at some point civilization must turn to alternatives. And conceivably, before that time, the environmental impacts of fossil fuel use (most notably climate change) demand that we turn to low-carbon fuels in order to ensure human survival on this planet. Is there anything else you'd like to say about alternative energy or the energy problems facing the U.S. and the world? JW, MS: It is important to recognize that the problems associated with fossil fuel use are not just domestic problems. These problems extend beyond our borders and their solution will require an unprecedented level of cooperation among nations that has not been seen before. The issue of climate change is the most obvious problem that will require international solutions. A ton of carbon emitted anywhere in the world has impacts on all other parts of the world. The challenge in the long run may derive less from technology development and more from the fact that all nations are inextricably linked through each other's behaviors and actions.
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