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‘Next generation’ is more than a fuel

Posted: December 14, 2009 at 11:32 AM CST

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I, with our two small children in tow, made the annual pilgrimage from our home in North Dakota to visit his family in Napa, Calif. For our travels, I took along the recently released book, “Power Trip - From Oil Wells to Solar Cells—Our Ride to the Renewable Future” by Amanda Little. Written to provide an entertaining yet educational look at the power/fuel struggles facing the U.S., Little offers an historical perspective of oil use and how the U.S. came to become the world’s predominant oil-producing nation, followed by the Middle East’s overtaking of global oil production and the subsequent alternatives being explored by the U.S. to wean the nation off of oil. It’s a review for those of us in the renewable fuels industry, but entertaining nonetheless.

That’s the best book review I can provide at this point because try as I might, I have not been able to finish it. This is due in large part to our four-year-old. He was extremely fascinated by airports, airplanes and everything else that goes along with travel, consequently increasing is daily of number “why?” questions from approximately 100 to approximately 587. On Day 1, question number 432 was, “What’s the book you’re reading and why are those pictures on the front?” In an attempt to provide such a barrage of information so as to prevent any further questions, I gave a detailed summary of where oil comes from, why it’s running out, why that is a concern and how many people are working to find new sources of fuel. This seemed to satisfy him, or at least he didn’t ask any more questions for awhile.

As we drove north at a snail’s pace from San Francisco to Napa, past oil refineries and huge cargo ships, and experiencing more bumper-to-bumper traffic than we do in two years’ worth of driving in North Dakota, our son made no mention of oil or cars using gas. We spent a hectic few days visiting family and by the time we returned home, I had completely forgotten our fuel-based conversation.

My son, as I soon learned, did not. When asked by his aunt how the trip was, rather than offering a report on his cousins, or the toys he played with or the junk food he got to eat, he excitedly said, “We used dead dinosaurs to power the plane to get there, but there’s not very many dead dinosaurs left so [[inaudible]] … and then we’ll use the sun to make our cars go!”

I can appreciate his condensing the part between using oil and solar power into an inaudible explanation, as I’m sure you can, too. But hearing his rendition of the process of moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy reminded me why I do what I do, and why the work so many of you do every day to commercialize that inaudible part is so extremely important. There’s a new generation of thinkers growing up who will never not know about renewable fuels or solar power and it may be some of them who are finally able to make that leap to completely free us from oil. But it’s up to today’s renewable fuel producers to pave the way for them and make that inaudible part a little more understandable. It’s the people who are breaking ground now that will be remembered as pioneers, responsible for the next generation of renewable fuels and for leading the way for the next generation of renewable fuel producers.

-Kris Bevill