FOLLOW-UP TO TECHNOLOGY REVIEW'S 2002 ENERGY ISSUE
by nuclear physicist, Dr. Patrick Bailey, President of the Institute for New
Energy.
(New Energy News offers his review of the MIT-TR Jan/Feb issue
which is more comprehensive than mine, with a few reprinted
columns, and offers better contact information too.
I endorse Pat's comments and the Leading Edge editor's column below. -TV)
-----------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bailey, Patrick" <patrick.bailey@lmco.com
To: "'Tom Valone'" <iri@erols.com
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 7:46 PM
Subject: FW: Technology Review Article - from the Jan. NEN
*******************************************************
A NEW TECHNOLOGY REVIEW MAGAZINE:
A BRIGHT HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Submitted by Patrick Bailey
I receive the Technology Review Magazine. Prior to January 2002, it was
directed, controlled, and published under the auspices of the MIT Alumni
Office, and as a SM and PhD alumni from the Department of Nuclear
Engineering (MIT XXII), and a contributor to the MIT Alumni Fund, I have
been receiving this magazine almost every year for 20 years. It has been
a great, yet very conservative, technical review magazine.
Technology Review Magazine is now an independent, non-profit organization,
independent from the traditionally conservative views of some prominent
MIT professors (whose names we all know), and is now asking for assistance
from its 1.2 million readers.
They want readers to contribute articles that will "inspire, educate,
stimulate and illuminate" with "thought-provoking writing" while they will
"cherish diversity of thought and expression and see them as the basis for
initiative, teamwork and personal and professional growth". This is:
WONDERFUL!!!
Their first magazine special issue under their new management structure
came just after Christmas, and is titled (from the cover) this: "ENERGY:
Can new technology reduce our need for oil from the Middle East?" "Inside:
Cheap Solar; New Nukes; Fuel Cells; Power Grid"
If this not a Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice Gift from God, then I do
not know what is!!!
I have already emailed the Publisher and CEO and the Editor in Chief of
Technology Review of my intention to personally assist them in writing
future articles with truthful and insightful information that we have
obtained since 1991, in work with the Institute of New Energy (INE) in the
new areas of energy conversion technologies. As INE members know, these
areas are well described in our INE website at http://www.padrak.com/ine/
- and are referenced by a subject index at
http://www.padrak.com/ine/SUBJECTS.html.
It is time that BOTH sides of the new energy conversion technology areas
are published in the open and peer reviewed literature for the general
public. This would include summarizing the work of many well published
R&D scientists in these new fields, and bringing together the results of
many scientific organizations, including: the Institute of New Energy
(INE, in CA and UT), the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program
(BPP, in OH), the Integrity Research Institute (in WDC), the Institute of
Advanced Studies (in TX), the Planetary Association for Clean Energy
(PACE, in Canada), and other well-recognized R&D organizations through out
the world that are researching and reporting on these important topics.
I ask your support by contacting the new Technology Review (address
below), and request that your organization and your field of interest is
covered with integrity in their future issues. They have offices in
Cambridge (Mass.), New York and San Francisco.
If you at all interested in seeing positive future growth in these areas
with large public support, then I recommend that you subscribe to this
magazine.
I have included the four following items of interest (from their Jan. 2002
issue) that I scanned in for your review:
1. Technology Review Magazine - Contact Information
2. CONTENTS: Vol. 105, No. 1, Jan./Feb. 2002 (page 5)
3. A Letter from the Publisher and CEO (page 3)
4. Leading Edge (from the Editor in Chief) (page 9)
Let's make it happen.
--- ----- ------
Technology Review Magazine - Contact Information
Technology Review
One Main Street, 7th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
TEL 617-475-8000
FAX 617-475-8043
http://www.technologyreview.com
Customer Service/Subscription Inquiries
National 800-877-5230
International 386-447-6352
http://www.technologyreview.com/custserv/inquiry
Cost $34 per year
Canada residents add $10
Other foreign countries add $30
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW January/February 2002
--- ----- ------
CONTENTS: Volume 105, Number 1, January/February 2002
SPECIAL ISSUE: ENERGY
Coal and oil fueled the 20th century, raising living standards but
imperiling the planet. Technology Review sizes up the alternatives that
could sustain the world through this century and beyond.
32 GETTING OVER OIL
Years of cheap oil have slowed energy innovation to a crawl. A new Middle
East crisis could change that. By Charles C. Mann
40 FUEL CELLS VS.THE GRID
Before fuel cells take on the internal-combustion engine, they'll offer
clean electricity to offices and homes. By David H. Freedman
48 SOLAR ON THE CHEAP
Turning sunshine into electricity makes environmental sense. Thanks to new
plastics, it might even be affordable. By Peter Fairley
54 THE NEXT NUCLEAR PLANT
The first commercial "pebble bed" reactor-nearing approval in South
Africa-may revive nuclear power. By David Talbot
60 WHOSE NUCLEAR WASTE?
Yucca Mountain in Nevada looked like the perfect place to stash the
byproducts of nuclear power. Fifteen years and billions of dollars later,
it's not even close to being operational. Is starting from scratch the
only option? By Gary Taubes
68 HITTING THE NATURAL-GAS JACKPOT
There may be enough natural gas on earth to meet our energy needs for
thousands of years' The trick is to ferry it across continents without
blowing up. By David Voss
74 ELECTRICITY GOES TO MARKET
Building intelligence into the power grid would make electricity cheaper
and more reliable. The technology- from self-monitoring power lines to
giant transistors-is ready to go. But no one has an incentive to foot the
bill. By Robert Pool
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW January/February 2002, Page 5
--- ----- ------
A LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER AND CEO
R. BRUCE JOURNEY
APRIL 23, 1993, SEEMS LIKE A LIFETIME AGO. THAT SPRING we introduced a new
Technology Review to the world. Since then the dot-com boom has imploded,
the new economy come and gone and the world changed forever after
September 11. All the while, we have been building a media enterprise
whose mission is to promote the understanding of emerging technologies and
their impact. Today we announce the formation of a new company -
Technology Review, Inc.- to further that mission.
Here is what lies behind our move, In 1998 we were part of the Alumni
Association of MIT, a venerable institution that had the foresight to
begin publishing Technology Review more than one hundred years ago-in
1899. However, the board of the Alumni Association, along with Dr. Charles
M. Vest, MIT's president, and other senior advisors, recognizes that to
compete effectively in today's challenging media environment we need to be
operationally independent from MIT. It is a bold step. Technology Review,
Inc. will be a new kind of MIT enterprise. Like MIT, it will have a deep
commitment to innovation. It will be a company that takes the best
attributes of the private sector-growth, productivity, efficiency,
discipline, focus, aggressiveness and competitive spirit-and blends them
with the innovative thoughtfulness caring, deliberation and commitment to
cause that is the hallmark of nonprofits.
Our efforts so far have yielded rich results. Between our magazine and Web
site-technologyreview.com - we now reach more than 1,200,000 of the most
influential readers and viewers in the world. We have hosted renowned
conferences like the TR100 and Beyond Silicon. Led by Martha Connors, our
VP and general manager. technology- review.com was recently named by PC
Magazine as one of its top 100 Web sites, and even more importantly a top
10 site in the source and reference category.
Our magazine, led by editor in chief John Benditt, has twice in the last
three years been a finalist for a National Magazine Award-once for general
excellence and once for best public-interest article. John is a regular on
CNBC's Marketwatch and Wall Street Journal Report. We have won the Folio:
Editorial Excellence Award for best consumer science and technology
magazine. At the 2001 Folio: Awards, thanks to art director Eric Mongeon
and his staff, we were finalists for five Ozzie Awards for magazine
design-bringing home golds for best overall design, best cover and best
feature design, and capturing silvers in two other categories.
As we create our new company, the 65 women and men of Technology Review,
Inc., based in Cambridge, New York and San Francisco, are dedicated to
building on OUT success by pursuing our work in accordance with a core set
of values and principles. These principles mark only a starting point, the
first reflection of a continuous evolution. As we do in our personal
lives, we will build upon our principles in response to OUT experiences
and changes in the world at large. But they represent core values that
will always be with us. It is my pleasure to share them with you.
OUR VALUES AND PRINCIPLES
Technology Review strives to be the world's best source for understanding
emerging technologies and their impact, Like our parent, MIT, we see
technology' as central to our culture and economic well-being. We seek to
inspire, educate, stimulate and illuminate-and, with a questioning but
open eye, foster a sense of wonder and fascination about the world around
us.
Excellence is our standard, We aim for beautiful and thought-provoking
writing and design in our magazine and Web presence, stimulating and
informative conferences and events, long-lasting and mutually beneficial
partnerships and the best in customer service. And we seek always to be
better.
Integrity is the foundation on which we stand. We are committed to being
honest, accurate and fair in what we write, in our dealings with readers,
sources, advertisers, customers and visitors, and with each other. We will
not compromise our integrity for my reason, financial or otherwise.
Creativity is our yardstick. We strive to foster an atmosphere where
creativity can thrive and people have fun. We cherish diversity of thought
and expression and see them as the basis for initiative, teamwork and
personal and professional growth.
As we continue to work hard to brine you the story of emerging
technologies, we hope you will enjoy what we present.
Let us know what you think, and if you do like what you read, see and
experience - maybe tell a friend.
Onward,
/s/ R. Bruce Journey
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW January/February 2002, Page 3
--- ----- ------
LEADING EDGE: FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
ENERGY FUTURES
Decades of cheap oil have produced two sets of severe long-term problems:
geopolitical and environmental. The solution? Finding a way to accelerate
innovation in energy technology.
At the beginning of the current Bush administration we heard a lot about
an "energy crisis," in terms reminiscent of the 1970s. Big shortages
ahead, we were told, Higher gas prices. Blackouts, brownouts. The answer,
according to the administration's energy plan, which also had a somewhat
retro feel to it: more. More coal, more oil, more nukes. There was only
one drawback to the plan, which, like so much else that was being bruited
about before September 11, seems like an echo from another era; it didn't
address the two fundamental energy problems we face now and will continue
to face for a long time.
The first is geopolitical. We are too heavily dependent on oil from the
Persian Gulf. The chain of events leading to the horrors of September 11
runs right through the gulf region, It was, after all, to protect our
supply of gulf oil that we went to war in 1990 (pieties about Kuwaiti
sovereignty aside). And it was to protect that same supply that we have,
since then, stationed U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. It is the presence of
those U.S. forces, in close proximity to Islamic holy sites (far more than
the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians), that has inflamed the
unstable temperament of Osama bin Laden and his delusional followers.
What do we need this oil for! Not for generating power. Although much of
the energy picture in the United States actually does recall the 1970s,
there have been some significant changes. And one of them is that we don't
use much oil to make electricity. As Charles Mann tells us in the
eye-opening piece that introduces this special issue of Technology Review,
the fraction of U.S. electricity generated by burning oil has fallen from
about 20 percent in 1973 to less than one percent today. So where ťall
that Persian Gulf oil going! Look no further than the tank of the SUV
sitting in your neighbor's driveway. Our entire transportation system is
based on refined petroleum, and although some fuels the 767s and some
moves the trains and boats, most of it fuels the American love affair with
the road.
That affair, which keeps us locked in the embrace of Osama bin Laden, is
one problem. The other is what our consumption of energy is doing to the
environment. There was a time, ten years ago or so, when it was possible
to hide behind some ambiguities in the data and deny that global warming
was under way. Not anymore. Although the data aren't perfect-and never
will be-there is almost complete consensus in the scientific community
that the way we consume energy has already had an irreversible effect on
the planet's climate. The only question is how hot it's going to get and
what we can do to change the trend.
What can we do to fight these devilish geopolitical and environmental
twins? Two steps are needed - ASAP. The first is to find a way of making
the price of energy reflect its actual costs. Among the costs not factored
into the price of oil, for example, are the two mentioned above:
dependence on gulf oil and the devastating impact greenhouse gases have on
climate. Internalizing those "externalities," as economists call them, is
a very tough problem, and nobody's had much success at it, as Mann points
out. But it needs to be solved.
The second critical step is to increase the amount spent on research into
new technologies that can reduce our dependence on oil and also reduce the
volume of greenhouse gases released into the environment. Disturbingly,
even in the face of clear and present need, the amount that the United
States (and most other countries, except Japan) spend on energy research
has declined dramatically. The culprit here, as it is in many parts of the
energy picture, is cheap oil. Cheap oil has been a great boon to our
economy over the last decade or two, But it has also removed the
motivation for research and development into energy alternatives. Unless
we can restore it, we're headed for trouble-big trouble.
In this issue we explore some of the new energy technologies that might
help to buy our ticket to the post- petroleum age. These articles don't by
any means end our coverage of energy. Indeed, they're only a beginning.
But the beginning of a new year seemed like a good time to take a step
back and give you our overview of a field that will only grow in
importance in the years to come: the future of energy.
- John Benditt
THE NEW NEW MICHAEL
With this Issue of Technology Review, we say goodbye to one columnist and
welcome another. Mike Hawley Joined us at the beginning of 2001 and
continued some of the themes the late, lamented Michael Dertouzos laid out
in his column - the primacy of human beings over technology and the
significance of "soft," intangible factors in our Interactions with
machines. Hawley's column was a pleasure to read, and as he moves on, we
thank him and wish him well, At the same time, we extend a warm welcome to
Michael Schrage, whose column "In the Weeds" begins on page 19. Schrage
will be looking at how, in contrast to the delicate flowers of Invention,
innovation must take root and spread. Schrage knows a lot about this
subject, as a researcher at MIT's Media Laboratory, a consultant and the
author of the book Serious Play, one of the best recent works on how
companies innovate, I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to tell us.
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW January/February 2002, Page 9
Return to Table of Contents.
*******************************************************
~