Gov. Ted Strickland listens to Chi Lee, chief of the combustion branch at NASA's Glenn Research Center, describe the facility's research with alternative fuels. The governor visted Glenn Jan. 30. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Strickland: Ohio must pursue alternative fuels
By Kevin Kelley
Westshore
Published Feb. 7, 2007

When the United States experienced an energy crisis in the 1970s, attention suddenly focused on alternative fuels. However, when the price of gas went down again, much of that attention on alternative energy drifted.

Gov. Ted Strickland doesn’t want that to happen again.

“Rather than allow ourselves to be so influenced by the shifting sands of the price of gasoline, we should have a policy that is future oriented and that moves us from where we are to where we need to be in the future,” Strickland said.

Strickland said such a policy underscores the importance of alternative fuel research he observed during a Jan. 30 visit to NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

The newly elected governor visited Glenn’s Advanced Subsonic Combustion Rig, the only device of its kind in the country. It’s used in the development of alternative jet fuels. Through a process first developed in Germany in the 1920s by Frans Fischer and Hans Tropsch, carbon monoxide and hydrogen can be converted to liquid fuel. This could mean that America’s abundant coal reserves could be converted to gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel, said Chi Lee, combustion branch chief at Glenn.

During his tour, Strickland noticed a poster showing America’s potential ability to convert coal to liquid fuel.

“Look at that,” the governor commented. “The Appalachian states have more equivalent barrels of oil as does the Middle East?”

“Yes,” Lee answered. “And Ohio is one of the states that has a lot of coal and oil shale.”

Glenn is working in particular on converting coal to jet fuel, although its research could led to breakthroughs in conversion of gasoline, Lee said.

“Our mission is for commercial applications,” Lee explained, “to reduce emissions and improve performance.”

The Fischer Tropsch fuels produce no sulfur (and therefore no acid rain) and reduced amounts of carbon monoxide, Lee said.

“We need to get the energy we need in cleaner ways,” Strickland said.

NASA is working on the next generation of jet engines, which operate at a much greater pressure than current ones, Lee said. They also burn less fuel and produce fewer emissions, he said.

Glenn’s combustion department is also working to determine how current engines will operate on alternative fuels, Lee said.

Strickland said he believes government should be supportive of alternative fuel research and the industries it spawns.

“It seems to me that the development of alternative fuels is so important that it would be in the best long-term interests of this country to have these alternative efforts go forward,” Strickland said. “One of the ways to possibly do that is to use our tax laws to protect these emerging industries until they become fully established.

“I think we need a national energy policy that will promote this kind of research and moving this research to market in a way that makes it competitive.”

Strickland, a former Ohio Congressman, said he plans to work with the state’s senators and Congressmen to seek funding to conduct such research in Ohio.

“I can say that the Ohio Congressional delegation, both the Senate and the House, in a bipartisan way, is very aware of the importance of NASA Glenn,” Strickland told reporters. “It is the one thing I have seen them work together on.”

Strickland said he intends to hold an alternative energy summit in Ohio to help the state become a leader in the field.

“Energy is going to be a concern for decades to come,” the governor said. “And Ohio, I believe, has some unique potential in terms of our human capital, in terms of our research institutions including this incredible facility, and in terms of our natural resources.”

Dennis Huff, a North Olmsted resident who works as a project scientist for Glenn’s subsonic fixed wing project, said NASA is working on making the next generations of aircraft significantly better.

“We’re working on what might be coming down five, 10 years from now,” Huff told West Life.

In addition to development of alternative fuels, Huff and his colleagues also work on noise reduction and performance enhancement.

“The challenge is to get the noise, the emissions and the performance — all three of those areas — optimized together to give you a substantial benefit in all three,” Huff said. “We can work one or two together, but when you have to get all three and make substantial progress, that’s a challenge.”