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The National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council have produced an important report on the future of energy technology and policies.

Increasingly, we will see the emergence of regional energy solutions to these global challenges. Regions have the appropriate scale to design their own energy systems that minimize the dependence on fossil fuels. We are starting to see this approach as states along the Great Lakes explore the possibility of wind power.

Other examples are emerging as well. Biofuels opens the door to the development of “energy islands” that are net exporters of energy. Reynolds, IN has pursued this strategy with its BioTown development. On a broader scale, Montana is looking to develop biofuels.

New international partnerships will also form, based on these regional strategies. See, for example, North Carolina’s focus on biofuels and its emerging partnership with Canada.

Some years ago while I was at Case Western Reserve University, Holly Harlan, founder of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability and one of the best thinkers in the region, invited the Rocky Mountain Institute to make a presentation on regional energy systems.

In response to this presentation, we launched a regional energy forum to explore these issues at the Center for Regional Economic Issues. (Over in Indiana, we partnered with RMI to launch the Indiana Energy Systems Network.)

I have not been following closely the aftermath of the City’s Sustainability Summit, but my guess is that energy issues played an important part in those conversations.

Here’s a brief preview of the NAS/NRC report:




Energy touches our lives in countless ways and its costs are felt when we fill up at the gas pump, pay our home heating bills, and keep businesses both large and small running. There are long-term costs as well: to the environment, as natural resources are depleted and pollution contributes to global climate change, and to national security and independence, as many of the world’s current energy sources are increasingly concentrated in geopolitically unstable regions. The country’s challenge is to develop an energy portfolio that addresses these concerns while still providing sufficient, affordable energy reserves for the nation.

The United States has enormous resources to put behind solutions to this energy challenge; the dilemma is to identify which solutions are the right ones. Before deciding which energy technologies to develop, and on what timeline, we need to understand them better.

America’s Energy Future analyzes the potential of a wide range of technologies for generation, distribution, and conservation of energy. This book considers technologies to increase energy efficiency, coal-fired power generation, nuclear power, renewable energy, oil and natural gas, and alternative transportation fuels. It offers a detailed assessment of the associated impacts and projected costs of implementing each technology and categorizes them into three time frames for implementation.

America’s Energy Future

The NAS has also produced a good video overview:

Last 5 posts by Ed Morrison

• Signing off - February 3rd, 2012
• "The current global development model is unsustainable" - February 1st, 2012
• Market opportunities for developing Chicago's green economy - January 29th, 2012
• Plain Dealer flubs its explanation for firing Tony Grossi - January 27th, 2012
• Linking and leveraging university assets to strengthen regional economies - January 27th, 2012

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