‘We’ve got to get back into the business of making stuff’

The lack of government investment in energy research is increasing the risk to national security and hindering the creation of breakthrough energy technologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Susan Hockfield told Bloomberg News last week.

As we approach Veterans Day, her message could not have rung truer. Hockfield said that the Obama administration’s request for $6.7 billion in U.S. energy-research funds “isn’t enough to move the U.S. toward energy independence.” (Her institution was the site of President Obama’s speech last month to highlight the nation’s need for clean energy.)

In order to create this technology, the government needs to invest in the research and development. And private industry wants to pitch in and lend a helping hand to its innovation.

More funding could build more robust public-private partnerships. Companies behind carbon capture and storage projects, such as Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County, Va., and American Electric Power’s Mountaineer project in New Haven, W.Va., are already seeking federal stimulus funding to ensure more efficient generation of our most abundant energy supply.

Investing in our domestic energy supply – as Hockfield stressed – is essential to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and gas.

But first, she said, “We’ve got to get back into the business of making stuff.” We agree.