From Energy Wish Lists to Technological Realities

摘要

Federal policymakers have long agreed on energy technology goals; now they must come together behind the policies that can succeed. The aspiration for new technology has been at the heart of every energy policy developed since the first oil embargo in 1973. President Bush's 2006 State of the Union address continued the quest for new technology by proposing the Advanced Energy Initiative, which once again calls for "greater use of technologies that reduce oil use" and "generating more electricity from clean coal, advanced nuclear power, and renewable resources." However, history shows that the hard problem for energy policy is not how to craft another technological wish list but how to turn technological aspirations into reality. And the government has been slow to use its own experience to learn how to solve this problem.