U.S. must invest in clean energy

Michael Pravica, Henderson

Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

I enjoyed reading and agree with J. Patrick Coolican’s column from last week, “Energy Secretary Chu delivers powerful history lesson.” If more leaders were scientifically trained problem solvers, such as Energy Secretary Steven Chu, instead of polished persuaders/verbalists, America, which depends on the fruits of scientific research for its economy, national security and well-being, would be a lot better off.

But with our catastrophic $14 trillion debt, we can’t afford to pay for foreign sources of energy, which are largely fossil-fuel based.

From this physicist’s standpoint, we are awash in energy coming mostly from the sun but also from within Earth. We need to support long-term research into better harnessing these cleaner forms of energy to modernize our energy infrastructure and become less dependent on the whims of Middle East dictators and the dollar’s declining purchasing power.

For projects with this far-reaching vision/scope, the U.S. government is the only entity capable of supporting the research to develop and make alternative forms of energy economically viable. As with any change in technology, there are necessary investments and lag times required that today’s impatient, bottom-line private corporations are less than willing to support.

Our leaders should get serious about weaning America off fossil fuels by supporting the development of alternative forms of energy. We sent humans to the moon. We can do this!