Back in November, Discover magazine published (in print) an article detailing several briefings that energy scientists had with Congresspeople. The article is now available online, and it details “Bold Ideas to Make America’s Energy Supply Safer, Cleaner & Virtually Inexhaustible.”

To explore a future in which the United States powers itself both independently and cleanly, DISCOVER teamed up with the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to organize a series of briefings on Capitol Hill. The presentations brought lawmakers together with eight leading energy scientists (see list at bottom of page) and policy experts to map out the road to a new energy economy. This is the way forward.

In a nutshell, the ideas are: Reengineer the grid around electric vehicles. (“‘At first it may seem counterintuitive that making cars electric will help us limit greenhouse gases,’ [Jeffrey Stein, mechanical engineer, University of Michigan] says. ‘But in fact we can reduce carbon emissions by adopting vehicle electrification.’ The keys will be limiting the need for new power plants and engineering the electrical grid to increase the use of clean energy sources.”) Build a new generation of small, modular, ultrasafe nuclear reactors. (“‘All the designs for small modular reactors eliminate the features in larger plants that can contribute to a potential accident,’ [Daniel Ingersoll, a nuclear engineer and senior program manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory] says.”) Extract frozen gas from permafrost or from the ocean floor to power new, ultraefficient turbines. (“The United States has about 284 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in proven reserves, an 11-year supply. Far more is locked away in frozen deposits called methane gas hydrates. Globally, the hydrates may contain 700,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas—enough to power the United States for 1,000 years at current rates of consumption.”) Power cars with pond scum. (“Corn and sugarcane are well-established sources of biofuel, but algae are more efficient than either—more efficient even than much-touted switchgrass. Some algae species contain up to 60 percent oil, and genetic engineers say they can boost that percentage even higher. And unlike the corn used to produce ethanol in the United States, algae do not compete with food for farmland, one of the biggest problems with current biofuels.”) A new agency spun off from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—which invented, among other things, the Internet—called Arpa-E is working on a host of innovative projects that could change how we get the energy we need to power an increasingly technological culture.