“The chances further down the road seem to me better on the fuel-cell side than on the battery-electric side”

There are a number of readers of this blog and members of the audiences when I speak that just seem to think that hydrogen fuel cell autos are a pipe dream that has no chance of becoming a reality in the next decade.  Comments like the quote above provoke a general dismissal as not being realistic.

During the last three years, I have forecast that 2010-2015 would begin the age of the electric automobile and that 2015-2020 would begin the age of the hydrogen fuel cell automobile.  People accept the first part of that forecast but somehow can’t seem to allow themselves to believe that hydrogen fuel cell cars will ever get to scale.  There is no question that scalability is a problem for hydrogen fuel cell technologies.  There are not enough fueling stations to warrant the production of fuel cell autos and there aren’t enough fuel cell autos to warrant the construction of hydrogen fueling stations.  Joseph Heller’s classic “Catch 22″ in full display..

Here and in speeches I have suggested that now is one of those times when the federal government needs to step up and invest in critically needed infrastructure.  In the 1930’s  FDR had the government fund massive projects that created the hydro-electric industry in the U.S.  In the 1950s Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway bill, creating the national highway system that we all rely for personal transport and the …

Last weekend I had breakfast with a woman with whom I graduated high school.  Since we had not seen each other since a reunion several years ago there was much to catch up on. The most interesting thing was the fact that her daughter is in the middle of a 27 month deployment as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana.  My friend had a thick photo album of her two visits to Ghana to visit her daughter who was living and working in what can only be described as totally primitive conditions.

To see a bright eyed, blond, happy American dedicating herself to service in the most primitive of situations brought back all the idealism with which the Peace Corps had been launched during the Kennedy Administration.  I complimented my friend on having raised such a young woman in an age and culture that for two decades has been “all about me”.

This was the same day that President Obama was visiting Ghana and we wondered whether her daughter might actually get to see the President during his one day visit.

Well, she did.  What follows is her exuberant account of that day.  This is somewhat of a departure for this blog, but I was so moved by the unabashed enthusiasm and idealism of this young woman that I wanted to share it with you. It is the type of on the ground, intensely personal account that the mass media just can’t capture.  It points to the power of service and to the …

Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress.  That is very good news and a good first step.  Of course, since Congress has never been anything close to providing leadership in the areas of alternative energy and climate change, the comparison to past non-action doesn’t mean much.

The other action last week that was a good first step was the announcement by President Obama that a deal had been made with auto manufacturers to impose new mileage and emissions standards for all cars and truck sold in the United States starting in 2012.  While this is very good, it is incremental improvement towards a necessary elevation of mileage standards if we are to gain independence from foreign oil, really lessen oil use  and resultant greenhouse gas emissions.

A growing number of energy, environmental and climate scientists have been providing evidence that even if humanity stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, there would still be an increase in CO2 particles per million in the atmosphere during the next several years.  So complete stoppage would only start to slow this upward trend.  That is why incremental decreases in fossil fuel consumption will not end or alleviate the global climate change dynamics it will only slightly temper them.  All said, the new mileage and emissions standards are certainly a step in the right direction.  A step that should have been taken a decade ago, so this is just playing catch …

It is about time!   The first steps that President Obama took recently to open up the U.S. policy towards Cuba are long overdue.  It has been clear to me for the past 15 years that the Federal Government’s policy on Cuba, instituted 50 years ago is a worn out relic of the Cold War era.

In the second half of the 20^th century, at least until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Americans were raised and educated that the bad guys were communists and that these communists threatened the way of life of the country and all that wanted freedom.  Well, for several decades that might have been true, but those times are long gone.  When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in the four years that followed, the eastern block collapsed and the global economy began.  The number of potential consumers of the capitalistic way of live basically doubled.  This led to economic upheavals that transformed China, Russia, South East Asia and Eastern Europe.  It was generally accepted that the U.S. and the West, had won.

The world is getting ever more interrelated in all areas economic.  It is getting ever more connected electronically.  It is starting to realize that there are global problems that face us all.  In such a new world, the idea that Cuba is a threat to the U.S, that Cuba is subversive is ridiculous.   What could Cuba possibly do to the U.S?  Let’s see, provide the …

It is clear that one of the reasons that Barack Obama won the Presidency is his campaign utilized the Internet in all aspects and in new ways.  The Obama campaign of 2008 introduced and defined success with this latest transformative medium.  The campaign’s use of all aspects of interactivity will be the definition and measurement of success for the next 8-16 years.

Now that Obama is President and comes into office with a mandate for change in a time of incredible challenges it will be interesting to see how the campaign mastery of the Internet is deployed to the process of governing.  It is already clear that this administration is and will do things via Internet connectivity that have never been done before.

Over the years, how many of you ever listened to the “President’s weekly radio address”.  I always saw it reported on TV but never ever listened to it.  Well, since the Saturday after his election Obama has delivered a Saturday video message via first his Change website and now from the White House web site and of course simultaneously uploaded it to YouTube.  Within 48 hours, hundreds of thousands of people have taken the time to watch the video.  The Saturday evening local and network newscasts feature highlights from the video, bringing the message to millions more.  What used to be a rare event, the President of the United States speaking directly to the American people via video is now a weekly event.

What is even more intriguing …