American Ingenuity – Oak Ridge, Tennessee
September 1, 2008
So why can’t America develop an energy alternative solution to eliminate dependency on foreign oil? Why are we hitting a wall when it comes to developing a real energy policy for this country? The dependency on foreign oil is like a festering wound. But, we really are not seeing any major changes in our society to resolve this issue.
The economic and political issues due to this shortfall are obvious and well documented. I’m extremely disappointed at this point in time on the lack of a new vision….of leadership in our country…and the overall confidence in our industrial sector to develop some alternatives to resolve this issue. The free world is crying out for someone to find some solutions. Where is America in this process? Why do we get a sense that we are somewhat helpless in finding a solution? The political talk focuses on drilling for more oil….not finding energy alternatives for our cars!!!
America has a proud tradition of innovation and visionary leadership. The Apollo program, D-Day, military-industrial complex are some of the well known examples. I recently was reading up on the Manhattan Project. This is certainly a controversial topic in the world today. But, the level of commitment and sacrifice of America during WWII to complete this development was incredible. I don’t think this accomplishment gets its just due today.
Attached are a couple links I found on the topic. We usually hear about the atomic testing grounds out West when we think of the Manhattan Project. But, the process of enriching uranium for the bomb is a fascinating story. This work was completed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during WWII. I am fascinated at this accomplishment because it all happened in such a short time period and the level of complexity was incredible.
This story demonstrates American ingenuity, visionary leadership, and a commitment to success. Can you imagine if America approached the development of alternative energy sources with the same intensity? I just do not believe our country is even close today to this level of commitment.
In any case, the attached links provides some information on the events at Oak Ridge, TN and the Manhattan Project.
The first is how Einstein was involved at “kicking off” the Manhattan Project.
The second is a wiki site about the Oak Ridge, Tennessee site that enriched uranium. At the time, they did not have any known method to enrich enough uranium to actually make a bomb.
The government hand-picked a remote site in Tennessee and basically made a city in complete secrecy. The area went from a couple thousand people to over 75,000 in a short period – mostly women. The workers had no idea what they were working on and couldn’t tell anyone either. The building they constructed was the largest building in the world at the time. I also believe the electrical power needed to run this enrichment plant required 1/7 or 1/8 of ALL the electricity generated in the entire USA. Incredible. There was no model on how to build the plant or perform these incredibly complex processes.
You can read the wikipedia link about Oak Ridge before and during WWII to get an idea.
The bottom line is these were desperate actions that the country took to achieve a nearly impossible goal. I think this kind of thinking has been lost today in many respects. The boldness of the decisions and the leadership needed to pull this off was incredible. Where is that same spirit today?
So, why can’t we make a car that can run with an alternate fuel? Is that any more difficult than figuring out how to make the first A-bomb? Are the challenges any more difficult? Do we have fewer resources than we did in the 40’s? Of course not….I’m not convinced the country is not as determined or hungry as it was back then.
In any case, I think America has lost a great deal of confidence and desire to innovate. I’m not sure why that is the case. Hopefully, that is something that can come back out of necessity. You can argue the Manhattan Project and the Apollo program were successful out of necessity for national survival (WWII…and Space Race). Hopefully, the necessity to build a new type of car AND develop a innovative energy policy will be established soon.
regards
