STEM, hydrogen and a glimpse of a future

Looking back is much easier than looking forward, but it’s not like no one is trying.

Two opinion pieces on this page point to turning points in two different areas of society that will converge at some point to change the future, hopefully for the better.

Rep. Dan Newhouse points out the need for STEM-educated people to fill burgeoning demand for workers in science, technology, engineering and math careers and the bill he supports to increase such education in rural areas.

And Don Brunell, a career-long observer of economic trends in Washington and, well, the world, explains the possible impact of the increasing use of hydrogen fuel cells, which could feasibly replace internal-combustion engines someday if those STEM experts ever figure out a way to produce hydrogen (actually, just separate it from other substances) efficiently enough.

Put those articles together with one from earlier this year about a bill in the state Legislature that smoothed the way for hydropower dams operated by public utility districts to use their excess capacity for producing that hydrogen. That’s something I’ve wondered about for a decade or two, ever since I learned that Grand Coulee Dam was being used to supply peak demand, not necessarily to its full energy-producing capacity.

If the hydropower dams on the Columbia River have enough excess capacity, which is increasingly used now as more of a fill-in for other renewable energy sources (wind and solar), why not coordinate them to spur a new industry and a new, clean fuel to power a clean future? If we can coordinate them for flooding and fish, surely we can operate them to help save the world from fossil fuels. Talk about a need for STEM education.

Maybe Rep. Newhouse should talk with the sponsor of that state bill that passed last spring with unanimous bipartisan support, Sen. Brad Hawkins, this region’s state senator.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher