A solution to the energy crisis

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FEDERAL GAS TAX- The gas tax is about 18 cents a gallon. An abolishment of the federal gas tax would save someone with a 15 gallon tank 2.70$ per fill up or 16.20$ a month (based on 6 fill-ups a month on a 15 gallon tank with the current national average of 4.06$ and a federal gas tax of 0.18$.)

Yeah, I for one am NOT impressed!

Here is my suggestion...

I propose we keep the federal gas tax and impose a wind fall taxation of energy companies (also stop all subsides)! THEN we put it all into a fund to grant monies to engineers/scientists to figure out some good alternative fuels! Kind of like what was done with big tobacco...
We could make an organization like the NIH- Lets call it the National Institute of Energy, NIE- yeah not REAL imaginative but that is NOT the point. It should be a peer-reviewed process where people write grants and get funded to help create alternative energy methods! Yeah, the NIH grant process is not perfect and if you ask me poorly funded and has limitations but it does work! It will also allows free thought not driven by corporations! This will mean research into alternative energy methods will NOT be guided or driven by the energy giants like it currently is!

Here is my reasoning! Whether or not the current oil crisis is due to speculators or an actual shortage the FACT is we will eventually run out of oil reserves in the-not-to-m distant future EVEN WITH a reasonable amount of conservation!
SO...
We need to not just get more oil through drilling or drop a few cents of the current price or put a long term emphasis on conservation--- but come up with real permanent solutions! While I believe that there is nothing WRONG with capitalism, the entire point of it is to make money! Here in lies the problem with that- RESEARCH COSTS BIG BUCKS! A company is going to put in as little money into research as it can get away with! If an idea is far-fetched in accordance with the current ideologies EVEN if a researcher can back it up, they are NOT going to look in to it further, because it is just NOT profitable! The people running these companies are typically not scientists themselves but people with business degrees!

Researchers under the current NIH guidelines must disclose ALL finical ties to corporations because of the potential it could impact their findings! This helps keep people honest, and believe me academia may be the quintessential “Ivory Tower” but it does a TON of self policing! Many in academia have chose this profession BECAUSE it allows them the freedom of choosing what they research, if they were into it for the money most would be working in industry (like a pharmaceutical company)!

Another benefit to this system is- EVERY THING IS PUBLIC- RECORDS, JOURNAL ARTICLES YOU NAME IT! If another researcher asks you for your genetically manipulated mouse model for disease X, YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT TO THEM! This part of the rules for any NIH grant! Depending on the institution the researcher has all or some of the rights to anything they invent, although patent rules still apply- THEREFORE this brings us right back to capitalism here companies can then purchase the rights to these “inventions” and can then make them marketable in a VERY SHORT amount of time (drugs for humans take longer, but the reasoning behind this is not applicable to this)!

I believe if we put an emphasis on this we could potentially have a few good if not numerous reasonable solutions to this in the next few years! We have plenty of BRIGHT MINDS who are lacking only in resources!


Dr. T

First any tax that is charged to a corporation will be passed on to the consumers.

Second to say that academia is self policing is ludicrous.

Third the people doing research into alternative energy are being bought off or eliminated.

Fourth there is just as much a chance that someone tinkering in their garage will lead us to a solution to the energy crisis as there is for it to be found in academia.

That is my take.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

reply to post by reluctantpawn

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"First any tax that is charged to a corporation will be passed on to the consumers.

Second to say that academia is self policing is ludicrous.

Third the people doing research into alternative energy are being bought off or eliminated.

Fourth there is just as much a chance that someone tinkering in their garage will lead us to a solution to the energy crisis as there is for it to be found in academia. "

Your first point- you may be right but this IS NOT about immediate gradification here! We have to THINK AHEAD! Yeah the cost may rise but guess what it already is rising! We need to have A LONG REACHING GOAL THAT WILL SUSTAIN US FOR THE NEXT 100 TO 200 HUNDRED YEARS!

Your second point- I will admit there are A LOT of problems with acedemia, however for the most part I can personally attest most are very honest, in part because other researchers can and will check up! The fact that some people do make stuff up and get caught is proof the system works! Eventually someone is going to try to repeat your experiment and build on it and if the data does not match you will get caught! What does that mean, well usually not a lot but most of the time these investigators will lose funding! I am currentally doing experiments based off someone's else's work and we got the plasmids from the investigator! They HAVE TO give it if you ask for it, again it is PART OF THE GRANT! Look it up, if you think this is not true! Part of the positive aspect of acedemia is you have a bunch of intelligent people who are free thinkers and motivated by more than finicial profit! Seriously if it was money you wanted don't bother getting a PhD, MD or DVM, just go into business- it would take less time and you would not have the same student loan debt!

Your third and fourth points- Yup, I agree! That is why we HAVE TO CHANGE THE CURRENT SYSTEM! Do you know why vaccines are still being researched? Because of funding! Otherwise this "cheap" solution would NEVER be considered viable by a company because it takes years of research and the cost of vaccines is too low! Many people (no not all) do research for the LOVE OF THE GAME! While it is true someone could discover the next great alternative engery source in thier garage it is VERY unlikely! Winning the lottery is a very real possiblity not statically very sound and I would not bank on it my self which is why I don't play, but for some people it seems like the only way they are ever going to make it finically! I do not want our country to be the poor down on his luck guy trying to win the "engery" lottery! That same guy working in his garage could do a LOT more with a small amount of funding and some appropriate work space!