New Technology Needs Acceptance—And $$$ :: AO

New Technology Needs Acceptance—And $$$ :: AO: "Gast: Well, you guys have a huge energy research grant.

Plummer: Well, we do, and interestingly enough, unlike most basic research projects and universities that are funded by the federal government, much of the energy work here at Stanford is actually funded by corporations. These are large global corporations that are interested in this general space; companies like General Electric, Toyota, Exxon, Mobile, and so on, who have committed to supporting a vast portfolio of basic research."

Another interesting point that they make: "think that the only way we are going to solve some of these global problems is through technical breakthroughs. Policy issues and things have a role to play, especially in the short term. But at the end of the day, we simply must have clean, renewable, sustainable methods for generating vast quantities of energy that will be needed to power this planet in the coming decades and centuries."

Amen. We are approaching an energy limit, now wait before you take that the wrong way :) I am not talking about oil here at all (peak or otherwise). We are nearing a limit where the technology will be limited by the amount of consumable energy available (inexpensive energy I mean here).