Posts Tagged by public sector
Where Should Funding for Renewables Come From? – Guest Blogger Geoff Nicholson
| February 25, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
Guest Blogger Geoff Nicholson writes:
I’d like to comment on your recent post about public sector support of renewables.
I spent the better part of my aerospace career in R&D. My experience was that private entities couldn’t plan for longer than one product development cycle. For aircraft and jet engines that tended to be about 5 to 10 years. Their ability to create a basic research vision and hold to a technology development plan was not very good, except for corporate research groups that had lots of research ideas but couldn’t care less how or when the technologies were introduced into real world products.
If it weren’t for government funding of critical, long-term research projects/programs, we would still be flying propeller airplanes. All of yesterday’s and today’s jet engines/aircraft were really developed under military government contracts from the ’40s through the ’80s. The commercial sector didn’t have the capital to individually or, for that matter, collectively fund the myriad of technology development programs necessary to field a jet aircraft. It was too big a hurtle for the private sector.
Since the end of the cold war, government R&D funding for aircraft has all but dried up compared to before. And, arguably no revolutionary product innovation has occurred since — only incremental improvements. The most noteworthy development has been a painfully slow and halting move toward composite airframe structures to reduce weight. No wholly new propulsion schema has been innovated. No truly revolutionary airframe schema has succeeded. We still suck, burn and blow air in engines that have the same basic design since the 1940s. We still fly tubes with wings on them. We just do it more efficiently than before while trying to drive the cost of manufacturing down. In other words, aviation has slumped into the mature end of the product life cycle curve without the impetus of government R&D funding.
And, the rest of the world has substantially caught up to us. What used to be dozens of US aircraft manufacturers have consolidated into less than a handful. Airbus, Embrear, Bombardier and others have taken market share from US companies, hand over fist.
So, is there a need for government involvement? Yes. Should the government fund basic R&D? Yes. Should government fund end product development? Maybe, but only for a few pilot programs but not for the vast majority of end products since the government doesn’t care too much about market demand for product features and functions and the various combinations of desirable product features.
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.
Related posts:
Renewable Energy – Public Sector Takes Important Role
| July 31, 2009 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
I met John Gurrola at the Sonoma County Fair yesterday, who told me how thrilled he was to be in the solar energy business. “I’ve been in sales and marketing for years, and these are the most exciting times of my career right now,” he said with a broad smile. “And what we’re doing at Steele Energy Solutions is made even easier by Assembly Bill 811 and money Sonoma County. They’ve loaned out over $14 million to over 370 local homeowners; energy independence is really happening fast around here.”
