Science & Energy Plans
by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

When I heard the announcement by University of Houston researchers that they have made solar cells out of lunar dust, I was reminded of why it is important for the United States to develop a coherent energy policy and to invest in our space program.

This year, my colleagues and I have set as one of our top goals the passage of a national energy plan. This is crucial for many reasons, including our security. We depend upon foreign supplies for 60 percent of our petroleum and gas, a higher percentage than in 1973 when our nation reeled from the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. Continued dependence upon foreign energy supplies puts us at the mercy of other nations, some of which have proven themselves unstable or unfriendly. Their decisions can do huge damage to our economy and the livelihoods of people living and working in our country. We cannot continue to sit back and allow that to happen.

This is particularly true because we now have a general consensus on what needs to be done. In the previous Congress, we drafted a bill to improve our energy security, but obstructionist tactics were used to block its passage.

The first step toward greater energy independence is boosting domestic production. This includes environmentally-responsible drilling in barren arctic wastelands. Oil exploration in a section of Alaska referred to as the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve could create hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs and generate more than 10 billion barrels of oil – the equivalent of more than two decades of imports from Saudi Arabia.

In a similar vein, I worked last year to improve the tax treatment of low production oil wells, called marginal oil and gas wells. These older wells, which dot much of Texas, have only a modest output, but because there are so many in our nation, they collectively produce almost 1.2 million barrels a day.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America says they account for nearly 20 percent of total oil production in the United States, or the amount equal to our imports from Saudi Arabia. Until we restored beneficial tax treatment of these wells, many were being shut down to the detriment of Texas and our national energy security.

It is a mistake to assume that the energy bill is devoted solely to fossil fuels. The bill promotes renewable fuel sources, such as ethanol, which is mixed with gasoline to create clean-burning gasohol which can be used in some of today’s cars. Texas, with its growing corn and sorghum production, is well-positioned to tap into the growing ethanol production market.

The energy plan includes incentives for other renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. Texas, as we all know, has plenty of sunshine, but its winds are also a remarkable energy resource. Scientists estimate Texas winds alone have the potential to provide one-tenth of America’s electricity energy needs. Texas Tech University is a major research center for generating energy from the wind.

The energy bill will emphasize clean-burning coal technology as well as nuclear energy. The United States and many other nations currently operate nuclear power plants, which produce no carbon dioxide and are exceptionally clean. Despite these advantages, we haven’t built a new nuclear power plant in this country in the last 25 years.

The discovery of techniques for building solar cells on the moon out of lunar surface material is also exciting because of the possibility of beaming electricity to Earth from space. With no atmosphere to cut down on sunlight, the moon offers almost unlimited amounts of energy.

Dr. Alex Freundlich and his colleagues at the University of Houston came up with the idea of building small wheeled lunar robots to rove the surface of the moon, making solar cells out of the combination of silicon, carbon, oxygen, aluminum and iron that compose the surface dust. Their experiments showed it is possible to make the cells out of these materials. The lower efficiency of the experimental cells compared to standard solar cells is compensated by the fact they can be made on-site and save millions of dollars in transportation.

This technique could help provide energy for the moon base envisaged by President George W. Bush. It could even, possibly, provide low-cost electricity to the Earth. It already proves the power of Texas ingenuity. We need to tap these kinds of ideas and pass a comprehensive energy plan to reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies, cut pollution and improve our energy security.