Our recent blog “Engineers Not Scientists Will Rescue the Economy” roused strong reaction among some Network World readers and within a mailing list of ex-BBN employees who played a major role in making the Internet possible. Some faulted us for pitting engineering against science, which was not our intent. We wanted to point out that given proper resources and encouragement, engineers can jump-start the economy now–while scientists are better positioned to lay groundwork for breakthroughs that will help the economy in the future.
The fact is that both science and engineering are needed to understand and positively change the world around us. The point of the blog was to discuss the relative percentage of funding that the two disciplines should receive from an economic stimulus plan that aims to help the economy as well as help solve our national energy problems. We think the stimulus effort should concentrate on getting practical results now rather than using the money to troll for long-term discoveries.
Michael Strizki is an excellent example of getting things done now. He built the first solar/hydrogen-powered house. The house is an amazing example of practical ingenuity. You can see a guided tour video here. The house gets all its energy from the sun. But the problem with solar energy is that you get too much when you don’t need it and not enough when you need it most. To get around this Strizki “bottles sunshine” by using the electricity to power an electrolyzer, which decomposes tap water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. The hydrogen goes into large storage tanks (the type used to store propane), and the oxygen is released into the atmosphere. The stored hydrogen is then passed through a fuel cell to generate electricity when the house has high energy needs. Oh by the way, the hydrogen also powers his car.
Mr. Strizki is an engineer who did this on his own despite byzantine building codes, state regulations, and naysayers. His house is so successful that it has become the Hopewell Project, a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation addressing energy independence and environmental preservation through technology development and educational efforts.
Strizki recently spoke on the Weekend America program on the American Public Media Network about government funding. He says he’s sure renewable energy can become commercially viable if it can expand beyond a niche market to take advantage of mass production needed for economies of scale. As for the $100 billion President Obama is discussing for renewable energy, Strizki says it could have a huge impact if it’s sensibly spent. He argues against pouring billions into scientific research, rather, he recommends subsidizing solar panel production.
In his view, “We don’t have an energy crisis. We have an energy equipment crisis.” He is looking forward to buying the system he built as a complete machine at Home Depot–or at least a much smaller and cheaper fuel cell.
A good science-engineering blend is a matter of degrees.
. . . Speaking of degrees–Peter and his wife were recently in a store on a bitterly cold day and overheard a young clerk say, “I just heard that tonight the temperature will be zero [Fahrenheit]. How can it be zero? How can there be no temperature?” Unless our education system also receives a major infusion from the stimulus package, it may be time to scurry home and hide under the bed.”
