We’ve always known that it is impossible to satisfy everyone, the world of alternative energy proved it this week. While reading up on current events, I came across many articles stating that the Obama Administration is cutting funding on alternative energy research. One article in particular grasped my attention because of the solution. In this article, “Obama’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Budget Cut Doesn’t Stop Researchers” (http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2009/05/24/aiken-county-hydrogen-fueling-station/), it talks about the cuts in research for Hydrogen fuel. As a finance student, I am always curious to where the money went, so I go to the source, the Department of Energy (http://www.energy.gov/news/7101.htm). In their article dated way back to the end of March, they are proclaiming in funding energy efficient improvements. Reading more into the article, it doesn`t really explain what that means, all we know is that there is a budget, of which $25million is being used to build wind blades, $800 million is going into researching bio fuels and the rest is going to help people be more energy independent. So what I wonder is, does this make bio fuels better than hydrogen cells, or is this funding mainly due to the more advanced progress in bio fuels.
Going back to the orginal article, although hydrogen cell technology is still relatively new and costly, the researchers intend to one day build hydrogen refueling stations across America to provide the citizens a greener place to live. However, this dream will now be cut short due to the budget cuts, or will it?
Look around at each household and you will certainly find a microwave and internet connection. What does these two things have in common apart from using electricity?
It was orginally funded by the military!!! And that’s exactly where hydrogen cell energy is heading. According to the article, due to Obama’s cut in funding, the researchers are now opening their hands to the military. So if they successfully get their funding, all we have to do is wait till the army obsoletes the technology and society will benefit from a cleaner and cheaper (assuming this is the selling point to the military, because do they really care about a greener world?) source of energy.
gdover said,
May 26, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
Really interesting – alternative energy sources are driven by military demands! You also raise another important issue – that finding alternative energy is politically popular but in practice it might be harder to fund and make happen. I’m still not sure though that I understand the need for alternative energy – what research have you found detailing our need for different sources? You also raise another issue about finance…does our approach to investment in alternatives prevent change?
sunnyhoshingchan said,
May 29, 2009 @ 2:41 am
Although theres no research on the page now, there will soon be a page regarding costs of alternatives. However, regardless of the costs and efficiency, it is unfortunate that the projects that end up getting funded will most probably be the most profitable and maybe not be the best possible resource.
The need for alternative energy is different world wide. In a few lines, countires with higher living of standards, such as Canada, will focus on things such as replacing depleting resources and an energy source that produces less or none harmful by products. For less fortunate countries that may not have electricity, their needs will be for a cheap source of energy.