NextEnergy CEO considers implications of State of the Union on alternate fuel industry

In his State of the Union address, President Bush called for a 20% reduction in American consumption of gasoline by 2017. This clearly has implications for the domestic auto industry, but what about the implications to the research and development of alternate sources of energy?

Metromode talked with Jim Croce, CEO of NextEnergy, on the topic. Right off the bat, he sees a benefit to Michigan—if the president’s proposal actually becomes law, with real funding behind it. “Our goal is to strategically leverage federal research dollars and get them into the hands of Michigan researchers.”

However, as an advocate of alternate energies with intimate knowledge of available technology, he does not feel the president has gone far enough. “It’s a relatively soft target that can easily be achieved with technology already in the pipeline. I think we need to be more aggressive than that.”

As for fuel-efficiency standards, Bush has called for a 4% annual increase beginning in 2010 for passenger cars and in 2012 for trucks. But although the auto-makers—even Toyota, the “green” darling of the auto industry, thanks to the Prius—are still pushing out giant trucks with lousy miles-per-gallon ratings, Croce sees some promising signs.

The Chevy Volt, he explains, employs “a new architecture for passenger vehicles.” Its series-style hybrid was previously considered useful for buses, so GM’s adaptation of the technology “was a significant development, a surprise to lots of people.”

The auto industry has also been talking a lot about diesel. Croce explains why: “diesel technology alone can give you a 20-40% reduction” in fuel consumption. He notes that, because of this, all major auto companies are in the process of introducing diesel into the “light-duty” American market. However, because, unlike Europeans, Americans associate diesel with rumbling trucks and belching school buses, he acknowledges that, “public education needs to go hand in hand with its introduction.”

Croce points out that the priority the government places on economic vs. environmental motivators for the for the reduction of fossil fuel usage makes a huge difference in what research gets pursued, but has not yet been enumerated.

Why is that? He gives the example of liquefied coal. Its increased use as a fuel would lessen the need to import foreign oil, but at the expense of increased greenhouse gas emissions. If the government determined that the usage of liquefied coal was in the nation’s best interests, NextEnergy and its ilk would pursue technology that would reduce these emissions.

He is hopeful that Congress will move towards providing the clarity that the research and development sector needs to maximize the usefulness of its innovations.