Energy guru to discuss oil alternatives
By LARRY KLINE, Independent Record - 05/11/08
Longtime energy insider and alternative-energy proponent S. David Freeman believes the United States can completely wean itself from oil, coal and nuclear energy sources in 30 years, and he says the technology exists to do the job.
He’ll tell Helenans how on Monday, when he’s set to give a free speech at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center.
Freeman is the former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the New York Power Authority and Los Angeles Water and Power. He’s also author of the book “Winning Our Energy Independence (An Energy Insider Shows How).”
In a wide-ranging interview last week, the affable Tennessean discussed the country’s energy woes and potential solutions.
America’s current energy resources will only spell doom, he said, and it’s time to move on.
“Between the fossil fuels and nuclear, we’re in deadly peril,” Freeman said. “We’re being poisoned and there’s an urgent need to go on a new path, even recognizing that it may take 20 or 30 years … it’s really important to make a sharp turn to the future.
“We need to start harnessing the clean stuff, sooner not later,” he added.
Freeman advocates building large solar plants and increasing wind-power investments to power the grid. While those energy sources can be unstable — with dipping output on calm or cloudy days — Freeman said the nation’s power infrastructure can be stabilized with natural gas power plants. Eventually, he wants to see technology developed to use hydrogen as a backup to solar and wind power.
He also wants Detroit to start turning out plug-in electric cars to cut emissions and the country’s reliance on oil.
“The problem is that we’re getting excuses from industries that don’t want to (change),” Freeman said. “The oil companies will become renewable companies. Believe me, they’re not going out of business.
“People didn’t think they’d buy the (Toyota) Prius, and they’re selling like hotcakes,” he added.
Freeman said he advocates “mainstream, can-do Americanism,” and said the shift to clean energy sources will signal the beginning of a second industrial revolution.
Though he considers Gov. Brian Schweitzer a personal friend, the two don’t agree on the concept of clean coal. Freeman stoked his Chattanooga, Tenn., childhood home’s furnace, and he later bought 30-million-ton shipments for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
“Ain’t no such thing as clean coal,” he said. “You can’t call it clean with a straight face.
“I view (clean coal and carbon sequestration) right now as a way to make it possible to talk about more coal,” Freeman added.
In order for changes to get under way, Freeman said, Americans must demand cleaner cars from automakers, get serious about conserving energy use, and push the government to require real changes in the energy and automobile industries.
“It will take a new president, and I think any of the three of them have this issue in mind and can provide that kind of leadership,” he said.
“If we don’t lick this problem, all of the education and all of the health care put together ain’t going to help us,” Freeman added.
Monday’s free event is a cooperative presentation by The Policy Institute, the Sierra Club of Montana and Helena’s new Climate Change Task Force, a city advisory board developing ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from city government sources.
Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com
helenair.com |
