ENERGY CONSERVATION

This will be a good year to pay attention to energy as a concept and a business. Fuel prices for heating oil, propane, and gasoline are at record levels. Electricity prices (we now pay both for generation and for getting electricity “transported” to us) controlled by utility commissions will likely rise. And, natural gas pipelines are running at capacity and at record prices.

In the past decade companies that produced electricity, refined oil, and natural gas have all become “energy” companies. The “giant oil companies” are now growing together: ExxonMobil-ChevronTexaco-ConocoPhillips-BritishPetroleum. Growth in electricity consumption worldwide is outstripping the supply of fossil fuels. India is incapable of keeping up with its growing economic demand for power, and within thirty years growth in the Chinese economy could produce demand for oil that exceeds all of current supply.

Energy companies have it about right. They are in the business of converting the products they have into the energy you need – heat, electricity, mechanical power. We want energy available in every one of the 8760 hours each year, and we are going to find it increasingly difficult to get energy on demand unless we do something different. This year will be different.

We have to change demand, because there is no way to change supply in the short term. Oil prices have tripled in months. US supplies from the Gulf Coast refineries are vulnerable, and supplies from the Middle East are uncertain. The biggest surprise of the year is that the cost of gasoline and heating oil has only increased by 50-100%. The winter has not even begun, but consumers (and governments, who are also consumers of energy) must change strategies to aggressively emphasize conservation. Turn down the thermostat, seal up the cracks, put on the storm windows, change the light bulbs to fluorescent. Consider buying a hybrid vehicle (business fleets can do this). Do all the things we did in the 1970’s “energy crisis” and more, with better technology.

We also have to change supply – something that will require changes in thinking along with research and development. The supply of energy from sources other than coal and oil is too limited. In the 1970’s Brazil spurred the creation of cars that could run on either gasoline or ethanol (an idea recently seized by Ford Motor Co.). Ethanol is a cleaner fuel source than oil. Clarkson researchers have developed recently small-scale plants to created diesel fuel from biowaste and are also engaged in converting farm waste to natural gas. Changing the supply of fuel materials will differ regionally, but these new supplies coupled with changes in power generation like the Maple Ridge wind farm can lead us toward “energy independence.” We do not, today, have the luxury of waiting for the hydrogen economy powered by fuel cells. That will take much longer and require fundamental changes in technology.

Expect another cold winter. This one will be more expensive, but each one of us has a hand in the economics of energy. We can reduce demand through conservation – each household can easily save 10% of its energy bill by being careful. Falling demand driven by conservation will reduce upward price pressures on limited supplies. And, we can support research and development of alternative energy systems. These will be local, further reduce demand on outside sources, and create jobs regionally as we try to keep the lights on and the furnace running. Aggressive conservation of energy produces two wins for consumers – reduced demand helps keep petroleum prices down and conservation practices save every household money.

Dick Pratt is Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.

CONGRESS DISCOVERS GLOBAL ECONOMY

Spooked by xenophobic headlines and shocked they weren’t consulted over Dubai Ports World taking over six major US ports, Congress squelched the DPW deal over security fears, yet neglect to notice this country is awash in foreigners who own a piece of our country.

As pundits took measurements of shipping containers to see how many nuclear devices could be shipped through New Jersey, we learned that port operators aren't in charge of security. That task falls to the federal government. Security experts then discovered that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took names and numbers of truck drivers entering and leaving the port with cargo but never checked up on them. Half the drivers had criminal records. Clearly, port operators do not do security. But neither do the responsible agencies, it would seem.

The Dubai deal was nixed because Congress focused on the word “Arab” rather than that giant sucking sound of money leaving the country. Arabs, however, are not such a monolithic group. And Dubai, one of the richest, most capitalistic places on earth (with a living standard higher than the US), just wanted to be part of the global economy.

Where was Congress when other foreign businesses marched onto our shores? Did Congress squawk about Daimler-Chrysler? Or object when Scottish Power bought up power companies and built wind farms? Or when 7-11 stores were sold to Japan? American workers and consumers were lucky Congress wasn’t consulted when Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Subaru built plants across the mid-South. Of 1,500 international takeovers in the past decade, the US government has been consulted fewer than two dozen times.

Congress doesn’t blink at the fact that many American tax returns are sent to India for completion, and that China is permitted to hold billions of dollars of US treasury bonds, not to mention US home mortgages. The global economy in which we are involved does its shipping on carriers flying the Liberian and Panamanian flags, buys gasoline from Royal Dutch Shell or British Petroleum, takes cruises on Norwegian luxury liners, buys furniture at IKEA, wine from Chile, and apples from New Zealand.

The challenge for the US is not to subvert the global economy, but to remain competitive in it. In education, US parents must be challenged to make sure their kids are doing something more than getting swept along by “adequate yearly progress.” Today, only 18 of every 100 ninth graders will earn a college degree. Parents, school boards, governors, and taxpayers should be hopping mad about this. It puts our economy and our quality of life at risk.

As Congress busied itself rejecting Dubai, the National Center for Educational Statistics reported that a rigorous high school curriculum including three or four years of English, social studies, math, and science was required for college success. Economists predicted that by the end of the next decade $1 of every $5 in the US economy will be spent on health care. We need plenty of talented, educated, and well-trained people to keep us healthy and alive. We need people who are going to solve problems, innovate, teach our kids and keep our economy competitive, and to create wealth.

American universities are starting to grasp the global economy by ramping up competitive programs. But parents and secondary schools must do more. Production of engineers and computer scientists has been falling for a decade. This year alone, China and India will each produce four times as many engineers as all US universities. There are 14 million students in US colleges and universities, and only 75,000 engineers and computer scientists will come out of that pipeline this year - about one-half of one percent.

We risk losing our competitive edge, not because we're not smart enough but because we aren’t working hard enough. American kids can do math and science. They can write better. They can create. They can learn other languages, understand other cultures. American kids say they would work harder if they were pushed harder.

It’s clear that American education needs better support, not just lip service from the federal government. Parents and teachers need to push harder for excellence. Anything short of that will find the United States on the outside looking in when it comes to the global economy. Dubai will be the least of our problems.

Dick Pratt is Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.