U.S. Energy Independence in 15 Years

Download or read book U.S. Energy Independence in 15 Years written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Establish U.S. energy independence within 15 years -- This is a enormous systems engineering challenge to thoroughly analyze the present mix of power generation, energy consumption in all sectors such as transportation, industrial, commercial and residential, and devise new technologies to assist the process to independence. At this level, all citizens will be affected, requiring not only effective technologies, but superior cost/benefit ratios and effective free market interactions. With U.S. energy independence, world markets will be influenced. It will be necessary to develop or modify new energy sources, possibly including storage, and adjust or modify energy consumption profiles. Figure 1 shows the expected transition from present-day energy consumption based on both domestic and imported energy. During the 15 year period, the U.S. transitions to energy independence, eliminating imports, and perhaps reduces total energy consumption due to increased efficiency. In the future, U.S. energy consumption is able to grow in accordance with national policies and enhanced domestic capabilities. At the present time, the primary energy import is hydrocarbon products -- primarily oil. Of that imported oil, most of it is used for transportation. In order to reduce the need for imported oil, the U.S. will need to revamp its energy supply and energy consumption mixes. This change in business and usage in the U.S. will require enonnous effort on the part of many organizations and individuals. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) will take the technological lead on this grand challenge. Nearly all directorates, technical, planning and policy capabilities will be brought together and focused on this objective. A simplified chart of the interactions within LANL is shown in Figure 3. Given the enonnous undertaking of U.S. energy independence, the vast engineering, technological and science-based capabilities of LANL will work together performing systems engineering, applied research and development, while working with policy makers, taking into account environmental, free market, and climate issues and constraints.