Big Think

Question: What do you do?

Jim Woolsey: I’m working 70 to 80 percent on alternative energy.  The rest of the time I help my various colleagues with defense and intelligence issues if they need me.  But my own responsibilities are in alternative energy.  And what you should read that as being is moving away from oil, trying to use coal cleanly, but not moving away from natural gas.  It’s too valuable and nobody’s really planning to do it anyway.  So I don’t say moving away from fossil fuels, but its alternatives in that sense.  For oil, that means looking at renewable alternative fuels such as ethanol, and butanal, cellulosic ethanol, renewable diesel, different technologies for each of those. It means looking at plug-in hybrid gasoline electric vehicles so you can plug your hybrid in overnight, charge up the larger battery that’s in the existing hybrid, and drive through 20, 30, 40 miles on the battery before you become just a regular hybrid again.  Since most cars in the country go about 30 miles or less during the day, that would have a big impact on oil consumption.  I worked for the Department of Energy at … the Department of Agriculture, and in the commercial sector utility companies, automobile companies, all of whom are clients at Booz Allen.  And then sometimes for oil companies I get invited to play the terrorist at war games.  My wife says I come by that role naturally.

Recorded on: 7/2/07