( By DGM ) [Approx. Read Time: 1 minute]
I am sadly terrified that our Government does not employ engineers at the highest levels of government. Why this is, I do not know. The rest of us engineers stand in astonishment when we look at how much power our country needs, along with the ability of solar and wind power to provide that power—as these are apparently the only form of power that the President recognizes.
Perhaps we need a Chief Engineer of the United States. We have an Attorney General and a Surgeon General, why not an Engineer General? He/she could take a dry erase board over to the White House and draw the simple equation of “SOLAR + WIND < FUTURE ENERGY REQUIRED.”
Then he/she would show the realistic CO2 free proposed solution of “SOLAR + WIND + NUCLEAR = FUTURE ENERGY REQUIRED.” There is a staggering realization here that our Government is failing to recognize. My real fear is that if our Government fails to admit to understanding the problem until too late then we will build a bunch of CO2 emitting plants because they are faster and more convenient to build.
OK, now I’m a little miffed. Carrington just pointed out this story to me that I never saw. Although it kind of steals my thunder a bit, Henry Petroski and I are in complete agreement.
I agree, an Engineer General may be in order.
All of this should be handled by DoE, so just retitle the Sec. of Energy and have an engineering background requirement. Dr. Chu’s stances on several issues including nuclear were excellent going into office, but unfortunately they seem to have been reined in by the current administration.
You must also look at who is behind making overall policy. After talking Dr. Dale Klein about the issue of policy decisions on science/engineering made in government, he expressed that he’d much rather have technicallly trained people and have them learn policy as opposed to the current government practice of having “policy wonks” try to learn technical information needed for the post.
You must also remember that if/when the waste issue comes up and that Harry Reid has made it his personal crusade to stop Yucca eventhough his stance is based on emotion and pride as opposed to billions spent on its research, surveying, and engineering.