The next two weekly columns focus on the Secretary of Energy’s recent Energy Challenge to the national labs and consists of two parts detailing a race among various energy producing technologies. Part I describes the goals, guidelines and need for the race. Part II conceptualizes the race.
The Great Technology Race – Part I
- By Randy Brich -
After winding its way up from Keystone, South Dakota, Iron Mountain Road summits at 5400 feet in the heart of the South Dakota Black Hills before beginning its long and exciting 15 mile descent down the back side of the mountain. An island of solid granite suspended in a sea of Ponderosa Pine, the Norbeck Overlook is a memorial to Peter Norbeck (1870 – 1936).
As Governor and later Senator Norbeck’s visionary revelations resulted in the creation of The Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road and other scenic drives through South Dakota’s natural wonderlands. His contemporaries and critics called the projects unnecessary, foolhardy and impossible, which, at the time seemed reasonable as roads had never before been built in such challenging environments.
The Norbeck Overlook commands attention, especially if you’ve just pedaled your bike up to it from Keystone, 5.5 miles and 1122 feet below. From the overlook, Mt. Rushmore (the Shrine of Democracy, another of Norbeck’s success stories) clings to the side of the distant mountain while Harney Peak, the tallest peak east of the Rockies, lies to its west.
Norbeck had a gift: he saw things others could not see; he heard music others could not hear; he saw the future where others couldn’t see beyond the present. His imagination resulted in the construction of roads that today are modern day wonders – ingenious pigtail bridges and single lane byways leading to tunnels carved through two billion year old granite.
A monument stands at the summit of Norbeck Overlook revering this visionary leader – a leader who asked the difficult questions and kept moving forward despite the answers naysayers often gave. Modern day bicyclists thank him for his perseverance and I can’t help but wonder how Norbeck knew that they could create the marvels we enjoy today, some 80 years later, using only the tools available to them at the time. With the tools of the day the road builders made Norbeck’s dream a reality which allows us to pedal our bikes, drive our cars or ride our motorcycles through some of the most scenic areas in the entire state of South Dakota.
In today’s world we have tools and machines for every conceivable application. Yet, somehow we are stymied when it comes to creating large amounts of reliable carbon free electricity. Energy policy followers know that Steven Chu, the first scientific Secretary of Energy who also happens to be a Nobel Prize winning physicist, has issued an Energy Challenge to the National Laboratories. His talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UkKWmPsouE at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State recently emphasized the need for technology development to solve the twin threats of irreversible climate change from burning of fossil fuels and escalating geopolitical conflicts due to conventional oil running out.
Chu’s message is powerful, timely, and worthy of the attention an S-1 can give; however, will throwing money (R&D) at the problem solve it? Or, do we need something else to bridge the gap until real energy alternatives are invented, proven and mass-produced? Similar to Norbeck’s application of existing tools to create miracles we still enjoy today, perhaps there are technologies that could be mass-produced now and plugged into the existing grid to buy us some time until the technologies the National Laboratories are working on come to fruition?
One way to find out if existing technologies can make a dent in the problem as outlined by Chu would be to hold a virtual race. The race would consist of simulations to see which technologies hold the most promise to provide a reliable replacement for coal and natural gas. The technology with the most potential might be wind, solar, geothermal, biomass or nuclear. But, if you don’t compete them against each other you might not ever really be sure that you’re emphasizing the right technology.
In order to select a winning technology we’ll need to have some goals, such as:
Produce the greatest amount of energy in the least amount of time with the smallest footprint using the least amount of materials while producing the fewest emissions.
Let’s put the finish line at one Terawatt (1,000,000,000,000 watts).
Click in to Nuclear Street next Wednesday for Part II of The Great Technology Race.
About Randy Brich
Randy graduated from South Dakota State University in 1978 with a M.S. in Biology. Following graduation he switched gears and began a lifelong study of ionizing radiation and its beneficial applications to humanity. During the course of his study he worked as a staff Health Physicist with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission specializing in the licensing and inspection of uranium recovery facilities. He transferred to the Department of Energy where he worked as a Health Physicist at the 
Nevada Operations Office and later to the Richland Operations Office specializing in environmental monitoring, dose reconstruction, worker protection, waste cleanup and systems biology.
Since then he has retired from the federal government and, after taking time out to build an energy efficient house near the Missouri River, has formed Diamond B Communications LLC. Diamond B Communications LLC uses a multimedia approach to explain complex energy resource issues to technical and non-technical audiences. He also guides for Dakota Bike Tours, the Relaxed Adventure Company, offering tours of the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills and Devils Tower National Monument.
If you have questions, comments, or know of a book that you think Randy should review Email Randy Brich>> randy@nuclearstreet.com