Will we continue to fund new, renewable energy research as President Obama suggests, or take a step back and de-fund alternative energy research under the guise of deficit reduction as Congressional Republicans propose? With gas prices threatening to hit $5 a gallon, the decision appears to be an obvious no-brainer (although brains seem to be a commodity in short supply in Washington).
Current U.S. Department of Energy grants have already resulted in some groundbreaking energy solutions. One such clean, renewable energy technology may lay right in our rivers’ estuaries.
Scientists at Stanford University are reporting the development of a new battery – a so-called “mixing entropy battery” – that extracts and stores energy produced from the difference in saltiness literally at the point where freshwater in rivers flows into oceans.
A report on the battery, which could potentially supply about 13 percent of the world’s energy needs, appears in the current ACS journal of Nano Letters.
Scientists have long been aware of the potential in harvesting the large scale chemical energy created by the salinity difference between seawater and freshwater. Alternating the flow of river water and sea water through a battery produces electricity to charge it. The process also can be reversed to remove salt from ocean water to produce drinking water. The scientists describe the battery as a very promising addition to the ranks of solar, wind, and other renewable energy, and are working on modifications to make the device a commercial reality.
Though this technology is still a long way from practical application, it represents the kind of innovative renewable energy solutions made possible by both private and government funding. Hopefully funding for innovative energy research (a tiny fraction of the federal budget) isn’t cut in reaction to short term economic pressures, political gamesmanship and special interest lobbying.
Funding could be totally covered, and even increased, if federal subsidies and tax breaks to big oil companies were reduced or eliminated. President Obama’s recent plan to cut some oil company subsidies (fractionally) would result in a tax payer savings of $4 billion a year – about the same amount budgeted for alternative energy research.
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What a great concept this is. I have long thought that there must be many ways to produce energy besides the burning of fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the legislative branch of our government seems to be mostly made up of folks who are beholden to big oil. It has been in the interest of big oil (and other big industries) to get folks of little brain or foresight elected. The current economic situation is an obvious product of the influence big oil, etc., has had on Washington. While ordinary citizens wonder how to make ends meet, oil companies score record profits.
It is as it ever was. Somehow in the very near future we must figure out how to become significantly more self-sustaining while preserving our environment or we will eventually drop to the status of “third world nation.”