Summary
President Obama’s caution in stating that job creation may not resume until later 2009 and into 2010 fails to grasp the current opportunities available in clean(er) energy production. It appears that President Obama’s administration is focused on the emerging and developing technology that may or may not succeed in a real world commercial application at the expense of implementing proven technologies to produce cleaner energy, more energy self sufficiency and sustainability and even unskilled level job creation.
Analysis
Currently there exist off the self technology to increase energy efficiencies and opportunities to complete targeted renewable energy replacement and enhance oil recovery all of which will increase energy security, create skilled and unskilled jobs and go along way to reduce greenhouse gasses. What is really amazing is that many of these currently available technologies will exceed current market returns on investment and at times meet economic thresholds as desired by the investment community.
So why is this not being done? The reasons are fairly understandable, but not an acceptable methodology to continue. 1) The government has failed to lay out clear legislation that all parties who will have to reduce carbon emissions can point to as a starting point. There are no guidelines or defined benefits for early movers. Therefore the energy producer no matter what fossil fuel it is derived from will only commit small amounts of discretionary finances to carbon emissions reductions to appease the public perception. The reality is the executives have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders not to take the company down a track that will put the company at a competitive disadvantage. 2) It appears that the Obama administration has blinders on or is currently not up to speed on how to reduce carbon emission or other greenhouse gas emissions using current off the shelf technology. The administration is focused on developing new technology in order to keep a standard of being the developer of cutting and bleeding edge technology. This position unfortunately has all too often wasted taxpayer dollars and investment dollars. 3) A fundamental error is being repeated time and again, both by the investment community and by the government. Prior to funding R&D or technology development a single most important road map has not been laid out. We all know about the R&D road maps, technology development road maps, but what about the most important road map so as to realize return on investment, the commercialization road map.
In most R&D or technology development research there has been other research in similar fields that has gone before. Some have even been commercialized and those that have been successful in commercialization are guidelines to future successes. 10 years ago prominent scientists, government officials, politicians and executives said we would have the hydrogen economy by now. We don’t because along with the technology development road maps we did not create a commercialization road map. Within that all of those prominent people would have recognized the challenges associated with the hydrogen economy and likely would not have inserted their foot in their mouths. I say this as a strong supported of the hydrogen economy.
President Obama, industry, investment community I implore you, I recommend to you, I can even show you how you might achieve some of your goals. I define those goals as follows: more energy security; immediate job-creation for both skilled and unskilled workers; economical returns on investments while reducing greenhouse gasses; cleaner energy with the ability to develop R&D and technology development to clean energy with no greenhouse gas emissions.
