Our article:

Political problems of the Department of Energy, and
suggested solutions

Latest version (PDF), January 6, 2009

Links to resources and sources of information

Below are quotes from Dr. Chu and the times in the video in which he makes the statements mentioned in our article. The video is The Energy Problem and what we can do about it, March 12, 2008. (YouTube title: The Energy Problem: What the Helios Project Can Do About It.) There have been days when this video is not available on YouTube. If necessary, we may be able to arrange for you to receive a copy.

Quotes and times in the video when the statements were made, taken from the copy of the video available on December 11, 2008. If there is a later version, it may have been edited:

“Coal is my worst nightmare” (28:16)

"... the earth's climate is changing..." (6:38) "... it's greater than 90% probable that the change is caused by humans." (6:46)

"Corn is not the right crop..." (54:22) The alternatives to corn that Dr. Chu mentions are not actually available, and may never become available unless huge scientific breakthroughs are made. So that statement is unnecessarily negative toward those farmers who farm corn to be made into fuel.

This quote from that video is not mentioned in our article, but is another example of a politically unpleasant statement by Dr. Chu:

"So there is actually the potential for at least tens of millions of acres of surplus land in the United States. Surprisingly, this is also true in most industrialized countries that have sensible agriculture. I emphasize the word sensible because Japan actually raises a lot of rice still." (52:26)

California is a huge exporter of rice, and Dr. Chu implies that is not "sensible".

See the bottom of this web page for another video and a quote from Dr. Chu about the political process and about climate change.

Hanford Waste Treatment Plant: Contractor and DOE Management Problems Have Led to Higher Costs, Construction Delays, and Safety Concerns
GAO Report (PDF) April 6, 2006. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008. "Local" is a link to that report stored on our web site, in case the original is modified.

Department Of Energy: Uncertainties and Management Problems Have Hindered Cleanup at Two Nuclear Waste Sites
GAO Report (PDF), July 12, 2000. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.

Nuclear Weapons: DOE Needs to Improve Oversight of the $5 Billion Strategic Computing Initiative
GAO Report (PDF), June 1999. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2008
Link (PDF), see page 56. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.

A Sustainable Energy Future: The Essential Role of Nuclear Energy
Report (PDF), August 2008, DOE Research Labs. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.

Quote from our article: "There are now apparently 103 operating nuclear power plants in the United States at 65 locations."

Source: The World Nuclear Association says, "Reactors operable, December 2008, USA: 104", but we believe one has been de-commissioned. Local copy of that web page, downloaded December 31, 2008.

Source: The Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy lists 66 locations. That web page says "as of September 30, 2005", but the title of the web page says "2003". Many sloppy mistakes by the EIA call the agency's reliability into question. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.

Quote from our article: "... there are nuclear plants operating in the world today that are 60 times more efficient in fuel use than the nuclear power plants in the United States..."

Source: World Nuclear Association, Fast Neutron Reactors (Now often called just "fast reactors".), August 2008.
Quote from that web page: "The FBR [Fast Breeder Reactor] was originally conceived to extend the world's uranium resources, and could do this by a factor of about 60." Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.

Quote from our article: "5,400 nuclear bombs presently in the U.S. arsenal"
Report U.S. nuclear forces, 2008 (PDF), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Local copy, downloaded December 31, 2008.
Quote from the report: "The United States reduced its nuclear stockpile to 5,400 warheads."

Dr. Chu is an excellent scientific leader, but he has the conversational habits typical of scientists, in which he often ignores or misunderstands social issues.

Quote from Dr. Chu: "The sad thing about this climate change that's truly tragic is, the way you get the attention of politicians, you have these big marches on Washington. You fill up the whole, you know, Washington Mall... Capitol... Washington Monument to Capitol Hill with lots of people and they protest, and they, you know, whether it's the Vietnam War or you name it, you get their attention. So the grandchildren who aren't born yet can't do that, and they're going to get the brunt of it. Okay. And it... So again, it's not a 99.9% probability, but I think in my mind it's greater than three quarters. Great. Okay. So I do not think... the debate. Climate change is happening. People don't realize the severity of the consequences." (55:10)

There are two issues about climate change:
1) the observations that show that climate change is happening, and
2) the question of whether or not climate change is caused by human activity. Dr. Chu is extremely knowledgeable scientifically, and it is wise to respect what he says. However, when he says his guess is that the probability of climate change is "greater than three quarters", he makes it politically difficult to act on climate change, because the other 25% probability needs to be respected, too. Most U.S. citizens would not bet billions of dollars if there is a 25% chance of total loss.

In the video quoted on the first page of our article, and at the top of this page, less than a year later he quotes an organization estimating that the probability that climate change is caused by human is "greater than 90%". These probabilities are educated guesses, not calculations. No one knows with certainty.

Video of Dr. Chu: Watch online, Steve Chu: A New Energy Program, September 13, 2007. The quotes and times are taken from the version of the video available on January 1, 2009.

Or download, 183 Megabytes, MP4 video file. If you need a video player, we suggest the free open source VLC media player.