STATEMENT OF JERRY D. PLUNKETT, PH. D., PRESIDENT, MATERIALS CONSULTANTS, INC., DENVER, COLO. Dr. PLUNKETT. Yes; that is correct. Senator MCINTYRE. Your full statement will appear in the record, and any additional remarks also. Dr. PLUNKETT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Select Committee on Small Business. As a former scientist, and currently an innovator, inventor, and small businessman, who as a member of the board of directors of the American Association of Small Research Companies, I want to express to this committee: My concern for the neglect of small firms in the planning of R. & D. projects; sound the alarm that the Federal R. & D. Establishment has lost its ability to recognize and support innovation of important, but small-scale projects; a sense of frustration that the Federal procurement control cords that have been developed to protect the public purse have become ropes that bind and, in fact, used to hang small business; a kind of outrage that in the area of solar heating and cooling, where Congress specifically directs the special participation of small business, that this directive was all but ignored. It seems to me that it is time that the obvious intent, purpose, and will of the Congress not be allowed to be ignored, but I respectfully challenge this committee by its voice and its actions to strongly reaffirm its will to the Federal R. & D. Establishment. For too long, expertise has been a substitute for public policy and solar heating is a reasonable and appropriate topic to which the Congress can address this general problem, and the needs of small business. Materials Consultants, Inc., is a small R. & D. firm in Denver, Colo., with a 5-year experience in solar heating/cooling development. Indeed, it was exactly 4 years ago this month when we called for an initial solar research, development, and demonstration program that was thought impractical even by solar experts. In that proposal, we called attention to the immediate prospects, potential, and payoff for solar heating. In fact, embodied in publicly undisclosed and confidential work that must remain so for the present to protect patent applications, we have worked hard and invested our own private funds to make important advances in solar heating. Also, in colaboration with Mr. Lloyd Wartes, also of Denver, we have a patented method of thermal electrical generation that we think shows important potential. Finally, as a backup system for solar heating, we have developed the technical basis, though not the final hardware, for a coal or char fired furnace that is clean, automatic, highly efficient (approximately 90 percent based upon energy content of the fuel), and able to meet all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, even when burning high sulfur coal. The basis of this technology has been disclosed to Mr. John De Lorean, formerly vice president of General Motors, head of the Chevrolet Division, and designer of the small Vega automobile. John says this is the most exciting technology that he has seen. We expect to join forces in further developing and marketing these innovations. [The following letter was supplied for the record by Mr. De Lorean 5. Letter Dated May 9, 1975, From John Z. De Lorean, President, John Z. De Lorean Corp., to Raymond D. Watts, General Counsel, Senate Select Committee on Small Business THE JOHN Z. DE LOREAN CORPORATION 313/645-2215 May 9, 1975 Mr. Ray Watt Senate Small Business Committee 424 Russel Senate Office Building Washington, D. C. 20510 Dear Mr. Watt: I'm sorry that I cannot attend your hearings. I did want to very much encourage the development of Dr. Plunkett's small fluidic bed furnace. In my opinion, the nation's energy problems can only be solved within the next twenty years by vastly increasing the use of coal. The coal must be utilized as coal -- not gassified or the job will never be done in time to have significant impact on our energy shortage. further development. Thus, Dr. Plunkett's furnace deserves Sincerely, 9316 John Z. De Lorean JZD/CO Dr. PLUNKETT. To date, the Federal Government has not spent 1 cent developing this technology, and in fact, we have spent thousands of dollars in travel funds and related activities to try and keep NSF/ RANN, FEA, OCR,' and HUD personnel appraised of our innovations. Rather than assisting us, we have found Federal employees unable to understand the solar state-of-the-technology, unable to formulate reasonable plans for moving solar technology ahead, and in fact, engaging in projects that were designed to keep university professors employed and off the street, and to use study contracts granted to large firms to make solar energy appear long term, remote, and unlikely to respond to our present energy crisis. Further, incredibly expensive solar heating projects were conducted that seemed designed to explore the upper bounds of costs-not to demonstrate cost effectiveness. Senator MCINTYRE. You say you have found Federal employees unable to understand solar-state technology, unable to formulate reasonable plans for moving solar technology ahead. Have you discussed this with your Senator or Congressman? Dr. PLUNKETT. Yes, sir, I have discussed the problem with them, and I still make that statement. Senator MCINTYRE. Why do you object to the Government going to the universities and large firms? That is pretty harsh criticism. Universities are the fountainhead of exploratory and applied research. Dr. PLUNKETT. I think various institutions can make contributions to solar energy. I am not complaining about support of the universities, but the lack of support of the innovators, the small business people, the lack of balance. Not, in fact, supporting college professors per se, but the other activities critical to moving to the marketplace through small business is ignored, in the large part. Senator MCINTYRE. You talked with people in the Government, and they turned you down, but actually, the Government would be well advised to move into the universities, which is a nonprofit situation, rather than take a chance on a young business firm. It would be safer if they went to the university with applied research and a nonprofit situation. I can see why it went that way. Dr. PLUNKETT. Yes; I see, too. There are nine reasons why it is easier for the National Science Foundation to deal with the universities than it is with small business. But the basic proposal I am saying here between the adoption of solar energy on a commercial scale and where we are at present do not involve basic research adaptation of known principles to the development of hardware. It requires innovation and innovators, not research. I object to the emphasis of misusing the university system. There is no proper system at all where it is appropriate in the area demonstrated 20 years ago. We don't need to re-invent the wheel. You don't have to have college professors tell us what the intensity of the Sun is or that solar energy is a workable system. This will not make any contribution to the solar industry. Experiment is too costly. There are workable systems on people's homes and no need for gather ing research data. I would say this-the Government spends $10 million on heating and cooling in an expenditure it has not come close to duplicating the kind of work done by small business on their own. The Government is spending more money with fewer results, spending on the wrong kinds of problems at the wrong places. I have submitted 23 pages of single-spaced testimony for the record that deals in more detail with these issues, and I urge that this material be included in the hearing record. [Testimony resumes at page 54. The prepared statement of Dr. Plunkett follows:] STATEMENT OF DR. JERRY PLUNKETT TO THE Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 1.0 BACKGROUND My name is Dr. Jerry D. Plunkett. I am president of a small research and development firm. Materials Consultants, Inc. (MCI), located at 2150 S. Josephine Street, Denver, Colorado 80210. MCI employs about twelve people and is engaged in projects for government and private firms. Our work is diverse, but in the main, consists of research, development, and engineering of materials for specific applications. No engineering problem is truly solved until it is reduced to workable hardware, thus materials are required for a wide variety of special applications and purposes. MCI responds to these needs. My professional background includes three degrees, a B. S. and M. S. in ceramic engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla, and a Ph. D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in metallurgy, with a minor in industrial management. In addition, I have conducted research, served as a university professor for three years, published several scientific papers and technical reports, and have acted in the capacity of scientific technical consultant to several government agencies and private firms. As a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Small Research Companies, my appearance here today is not simply in my own behalf, but also for the many small research firms and individual innovators who are attempting to make a contribution to the total technical capability of this country. I am firmly convinced that small R & D firms and individual innovators have made a contribution above and beyond the tiny fraction of support they have received in the past and are receiving today from the federal government, or from society generally. The development and growth of the United States is due, in part, to the genius of our innovators. From the time of Ben Franklin and his stove, Thomas Jefferson and his patents, and down through the years with such examples as Eli Whitney's development of the cotton gin, Colt and his guns, McCormick's reaper, and more recently the Xerox process, the ball-point pen, the Polaroid camera and the laser, inventors have played an important role. America has always possessed the inventive genius required to solve the problems that confront the nation and does today. Large research laboratories serve an important function and have their place, but there is no substitute for new ideas and concepts, and these are the product of individuals--not of committees or institutions. |