Posts Tagged by George Douglas
About George Douglas, Contributor to “Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies”
| August 1, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
NREL spokesperson George Douglas contibuted to the book’s chapter on the US federal governement’s laboratories. As one might expect, there are many non-profit organizations of different types that make important contributions to the quest for clean energy: government agencies, NGOs, trade associations, etc. The handful of such groups that have contributed to this book speak to the important work they are doing to develop key technologies and to adopt rational policy by which renewables can be moved forward in a concerted and responsible way.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, is the only federal laboratory dedicated to the research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. I was delighted to speak with spokesperson George Douglas.
Related posts:
Should Renewables Technology Be Developed in the Public or Private Sector?
| February 23, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
Frequent commentor and all-around smart guy Larry Lemmert writes:
I whole-heartedly believe (that it’s business that’s causing the rapid migration to renewables) and for that reason, the role of government should be limited to cheerleader on the side-lines, offering only tax credits to lubricant the transition, but largely to just stand back and keep out of the way of this tidal wave of green development….”
Thanks for writing in, Larry. I go back and forth on this. I ran that idea by George Douglas, spokesperson for NREL, in the interview I conducted with my him for my book on renewables, and he politely by firmly took my head off.
I asked, “Isn’t technology is typically developed in the private sector? What was the thought process behind doing this in a public agency?”
He responded, “Well, the first statement is not true. How did we get to the moon? Public sector development of technology. The Internet is public sector development of technology. Really, the model that people think about is the Bell Labs model – the long-term investment in technology. But after the Second World War business itself became much more increasingly interested in short-term returns.
“And the role of government in investing in high risk and long-term research was given a great deal of credibility during the Second World War. The development of radar, development of nuclear arms, and so forth — specifically aimed at harnessing nuclear power. So Oak Ridge National Laboratory, San Diego National Laboratory, Los Alamos, etc. all grew out of that. So, there has been, at least for the last 60 to 70 years, the divide between what research is generally pursued by private enterprise and what research is pursued by the government and in academia. It’s the difference between near-term results, and by near-term — I don’t mean tomorrow — but in the 10 to 20 year time horizon, and much longer-term problems and results.”
We’d all like to say, along with Jefferson, “That government is best that governs least.” Try to find a politician who runs on a “big government” platform. Even as he’s spending your money as fast as he can get hands on it, he’s telling you that he’s for small government.
But you have to admit that NREL’s position on this gives us something to think about.
