May 19, 2007: Energy Issues - Mark Eberhart

Art Bell welcomes Dr. Mark Eberhart, professor of chemistry and materials science at the Colorado School of Mines and author of Feeding the Fire, for an in-depth discussion on America's growing energy crisis. Eberhart explains why corn-based ethanol is a flawed solution, noting that farm subsidies rather than real energy gains drive the push for biofuels, and that converting cellulose to ethanol holds far more promise.

The conversation explores Eberhart's central thesis that energy and human imagination are inseparable. He argues that everything civilization has created, from automobiles to books, exists because humans harnessed energy to give substance to their ideas. Art and Eberhart discuss how exponentially rising energy consumption, combined with dependence on foreign oil funding hostile nations, creates both economic and security vulnerabilities.

Eberhart addresses hydrogen as a potential fuel source, explaining the scientific challenges of storage and production that make it less viable than many assume. He also weighs in on climate change, stating that the evidence for human-caused global warming is overwhelming, and warns that China has already surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest carbon emitter. The hour opens with unscreened listener calls on topics ranging from the Iraq War to personal stories.