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Viewpoints, 3/8/09; drilling offshore off the coast of Virginia. Date published: 3/8/2009
MILLBORO --On a recent trip to Blacksburg, my friend Bruce Cambata said one very important thing. "ET--energy technology--is going to be a whole lot bigger than IT. It's the next big thing."Bruce's company, Electric Jet, is working in partnership with Virginia Tech to develop a hydrogen gas turbine engine that produces no carbon dioxide. When they embarked upon this project four years ago, the skeptics told them it simply wasn't possible. Bruce and his team proved them wrong. Similar alternative energy research and development is happening in our colleges and universities throughout the commonwealth. Two University of Virginia physicists have discovered a new material for more efficient energy storage and transportation and at Old Dominion University they've built a bio-diesel production facility near Hopewell. Unfortunately, the debate over our energy future--which most agree centers on making America energy independent and reducing our contribution to global climate change--is focused too much on the technologies of the past. Offshore drilling on Virginia's Atlantic coast for oil and natural gas could play a small role, but it is by no means the silver bullet solution to our energy crisis. We should keep all options on the table. I support drilling for oil and gas But as governor, my focus would be Half a century ago, a governor sensed a similar opportunity for his state and its citizens. North Carolina's Luther Hodges persuaded the legislature to appropriate $200,000--and raised another $1.5 million from private donations--for the creation of a research park in the central part of the state. Just as my friend Bruce at Electric Jet has found, there were skeptics. Forty-nine years later the Research Triangle Unlike our neighbors to the south, we don't need a physical research park. We just need a plan to tap the unused research capacity at our state institutions of higher learning and enough public investment to make Virginia the place investors turn to for alternative and renewable energy. In my first year as governor, we'll put that plan into action--and bring green jobs of the 21st century, economic development, and opportunity to every corner of Virginia. Energy technology is the next big thing. I know it will be for the entire world, but we can make it the next big thing for Virginia if we're willing to lead. Sure, there will be skeptics as there always are, but investing in energy technology will create good-paying jobs for Virginia's working families and build Virginia's next energy economy.
Date published: 3/8/2009
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