Macro Energy Flows and expertise

Beautiful graphic showing the global energy flow and marked up indicating my areas of career expertise.

Energy Flows

SOME FACTOIDS

Who got us into this mess in the first place, along with 25 years of failed energy policy? The congress may have also failed math. We engineers have been warning about the need to upgrade systems to save energy. SO many $ billions in great investment returns (8% annual ROI or higher) in energy conservation have been ignored in favor of lower first cost. Shortsighted and unforgivable.

The presidents proposal is to create new work by replacing lighting and HVAC and increasing insulation. Here are the key items impacting buildings that we can focus on.

$6.3 billion in state energy efficiency and clean energy grants

$5 billion to weatherize modest-income homes

$4.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient

I wiil make this typical prediction on the value of the improvements:
Assume we upgrade the thermal performance of the buildings that Obama proposes to improve. On a one time outlay of $2.5 billon, the people will save about $450 million ANNUALLY per year for the life of those installations, which may be 70-100 years or more! Pay back in 5.5 years, (5.5 years x $450 million per year = $2.5 billion), the equivalent of a 12% return on investment, practically without any risk, net taxes! This return is incredible, a great investment. We are talking about a payback for generations to come. Why haven’t we done this already?

The pundits (the press and and the political establishment) that scoffed at this in February should be called on their stupid and ignorant criticism. They should to back their statements with facts. Why is it that no one mentioned the fact that 48% of the energy in this country is used by buildings!

Total U.S. energy consumption amounts to about $1.2 trillion per year, and buildings consume about $600 billion of this. The excess is in the form of imported oil. North America has the greatest energy resources on earth, so why are we importing oil at all?

Their ridicule of science and engineering economics illustrates that indeed, AMERICA is falling behind in general math and science. We may have the worlds finest colleges and universities, but there, in the media, (and the congress to lesser degree), are some of the most severely math and science challenged people you will find. We just said adios to one of the most math challenged presidents ever, George Bush.

One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind: Obama appointed a respected scientist to run the Department of Energy.