Dr. Chu Goes to Washington
January 14th, 2009Posted by: Roger Pielke, Jr.
In his confirmation hearing, Steven Chu, Nobel laureate and next U.S. Secretary of Energy, reverses course on a few glib statements about energy policy.
First, last year Chu told the Wall Street Journal:
Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.
In yesterday’s hearing Chu reflected an apparent new-found concern about the effects of higher energy prices on ordinary folks:
What the American family does not want is to pay an increasing fraction of their budget, their precious dollars, for energy costs, both in transportation and keeping their homes warm and lit.
Similarly, Chu’s statement that coal is his “worst nightmare” has been widely cited. In yesterday’s hearing Chu explained, when asked to clarify that comment, that we are of course going to burn coal, we just have to figure out how to do it cleanly.
But I also have said many times in my talks, that coal is an abundant resource in the world. Two-thirds of the known coal reserves in the world lie in only four countries, the United States, first and foremost, followed by India, China and Russia. India, China, Russia and the United States, I believe, will not turn their back on coal, so it is imperative that we figure out a way to use coal as cleanly as possible. And so for that reason, I think again, my optimism as a scientist, we will develop those technologies to capture a large fraction of the carbon dioxide that is emitted from coal plants and safely sequester them. If confirmed as Secretary of Energy I will work very hard to develop these technologies so the United States and the rest of the world can use them.
Not going to raise the price of energy, huh? And promising clean coal, huh?
Welcome to Washington, Dr. Chu!!
January 14th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Given all the hand-wringing around here about government funding for science, this might make for interesting reading. http://www.financialpost.com/analysis/columnists/story.html?id=0a545dbe-1ce4-467b-8220-d63f14046b83
“Sex, Science & Profits, by British academic Terence Kealey. The book deals with the nature of science, the history of technology and the role of governments in promoting economic growth. It provides a devastating critique of states’ failure to fund economically useful knowledge, and suggests that all spending on “technologies of the future” is likely to wind up down the drain.
Professor Kealey is not promoting some off-the-wall, right-wing economic theory. A comprehensive 2003 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development titled “The Sources of Economic Growth in OECD Countries,” found that the only useful R&D came from private sources and that public R&D funding tended to have negative consequences.”
No surprise.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I can understand how a non-scientist can easily be enamored by and hopeful about “promising new technologies,” but I have a real problem understanding how a scientist, such as Chu, can be such a cheerleader for such ideas. Presumeably he had a physics class somewhere.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Which statements do we believe, the glib but probably heart-felt, or the ones that get him confirmed? Why should we be happy about scientists being appointed to these posts? They clearly know how to play politics with the rest of them.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
[...] I commented with a slightly raised eyebrow at comments made by Steven Chu, President-elect Obama’s choice [...]