Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke at Stanford University today. The full recording is available here (introduction begins 20 seconds in), which is also available at WhiteHouse.gov, Energy.gov, and permanent link here.
On 03.08.10, In News, By Staff
On 03.04.10, In News, By Kevin Hsu
The Apollo Alliance and Center for American Progress have both released new reports on the global clean energy race and strategies for U.S. leadership:
Apollo Alliance: “Winning the Race: How America Can Lead the Global Clean Energy Economy,” March 2010
Center for American Progress: “Out of the Running? How Germany, Spain, and China Are Seizing the Energy Opportunity and Why the United States Risks Getting Left Behind,” March 2010
The Breakthrough Institute and Information Technology & Innovation Foundation released a major report in November 2009 on this topic called “Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giants,” which provides more analysis on China, South Korea, and Japan compared to the United States.
On 03.04.10, In Uncategorized, By Kevin Hsu
That’s the question posed by an article in Scientific American.
The first ARPA-E summit is currently underway, and as the author notes, despite frequent references to the Apollo Project, the “premise of the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA–E is somewhat simpler—emulate its older sibling, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)” in spurring the development of new technologies. “Since its founding in 1958 during the Cold War in the wake of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik,” DARPA has given birth to a wide range of inventions, including stealth fighters and the Internet. For its part, ARPA–E “plans to fund multidisciplinary technical ideas that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve national security and create jobs.”
Out of some 3,700 applications, “37 technologies qualified for government funds, with each getting an average $4 million.” On the bright side, ”‘the number of good ideas has been amazing, and we don’t even have all the intellectual horsepower of the U.S. into clean energy,’ [ARPA-E director Arun] Majumdar says. But as he notes, ”‘we need multiple lunar landings, not just one.’”
Unfortunately, ”political realities might short-circuit those ‘lunar landings,’ many of which (according to the ARPA-E director) won’t become manifest for 10 years or more.” Majumdar says, ”We are not short on ideas. The question is, what happens next?”
In any case, things are moving ahead: “$100 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (better known as the stimulus) was made available on March 2, to be awarded via ARPA–E to the best proposals for new grid-scale storage devices, better power converters and more efficient air conditioners.
On 03.03.10, In News, By Ishan Nath
Thomas Friedman has devoted yet another New York Times column to the need for the United States to do a better job encouraging innovation to maintain a competitive position in the world economy. His column relies on industry testimony from Intel CEO Paul Otellini and highlights the need for RE-ENERGYSE and comprehensive investment in energy technology.
Speaking from experience, Otellini confirmed the idea that the U.S. is falling behind in higher education:
While America still has the quality work force, political stability and natural resources a company like Intel needs, said Otellini, the U.S. is badly lagging in developing the next generation of scientific talent and incentives to induce big multinationals to create lots more jobs here.
Intel can thrive today — not just survive, but thrive — and never hire another American. Asked if his company was being held back by weak science and math education in America’s K-12 schools, Otellini explained:“As a citizen, I hate it. As a global employer, I have the luxury of hiring the best engineers anywhere on earth. If I can’t get them out of M.I.T., I’ll get them out of Tsing Hua” — Beijing’s M.I.T.
Otellini goes on to cite a study measuring strides toward future innovation that ranks the U.S. dead last out of the 40 nations measured.
The measures he cites to improve this situation include tax credits for R&D and reduced corporate tax rates. With gaping deficits in the government budgets, any cuts in taxes clearly raise complicated economic issues. But if Intel can build the same plant in another country at a significantly lower cost, argues Otellini, America cannot afford to let their investments continue to go overseas.
“I’d like to see competitiveness and education take a higher role than they are today,” [Otellini] said. “Right now, they’re going to try to push this health care thing over the line, and, after that, deal with the next thing. God, I’d just like this [our competitiveness] to be the next thing. Something has to pay for” everything government is doing today.
Read the full piece here.
On 03.03.10, In Columns, By Teryn Norris
Originally published by The Stanford Daily
A big event is happening at Stanford next week. On Monday, Mar. 8, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will deliver a speech in Memorial Auditorium about clean energy innovation and education, exclusive for the Stanford community, followed by a special expert panel called “Educating the Energy Generation.”
This is an event you do not want to miss, so if you have class, skip it and recruit the rest of your classmates. Dr. Chu is one of the most important government officials in the world. He is overseeing the Department of Energy during the most critical time for energy policy in U.S. history, and the work of this department may truly shape our future more than any other area of government today.
Dr. Chu is pretty much the rock star of government officials. It is not just his position as America’s energy guru, or that he is the first Nobel Laureate appointed to the Cabinet. No, the coolest thing about Dr. Chu is that he is basically America’s nerd-in-chief, and he is the first to say so. In his Harvard commencement speech last year, Chu compared himself to past speaker Bill Gates: “Today, you have me. I am not a billionaire, but at least I am a nerd.”
But beyond his place as nerd-in-chief, there are three reasons why Secretary Chu offers a critical perspective and inspirational message that we should all listen to on Monday. (For the purpose of full disclosure, I co-wrote the invitation that brought him to campus.)
On 03.01.10, In News, By Ishan Nath
A post on Good Magazine’s website about the development of a clean energy workforce made reference to Americans for Energy Leadership’s “grassroots effort among students to make sure RE-ENERGYSE makes it through Congress in 2010.”
The mention came alongside a short description of the $74 million budget proposal that would help “solve the root problem, which is American students choosing not to study technology-related majors.” Without RE-ENERGYSE and comprehensive energy education initiatives, the post contends, investments such as the $3.5 billion Intel and other leading companies just committed to creating jobs in technology fields cannot have their full effect.
Read the full post here.
On 03.01.10, In Columns, By Ishan Nath
An op-ed co-written by Applied Materials President Charlie Gay and Breakthrough Institute founders Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus reiterates Asia’s competitive advantage in clean technology and urges the United States to move forward with a cohesive strategy.
We need an integrated strategy, combining the insights and vision of industry, government, academia, utilities and consumers. This approach will facilitate the investment climate required to ensure stability and long-term demand for renewable energy.
There’s room for another “Silicon Valley” of clean technology outside of China. The U.S. can close the investment gap with Asia and provide direct support for its clean tech research and innovation, manufacturing capacity and domestic markets if we pursue a long-term national clean energy competitiveness strategy. Robust and targeted public investments such as the ones committed recently by Obama can pave the way to a new era of U.S. technology leadership and economic prosperity but only if we act now.
Pointing to the current situation of the clean-energy race – with Asian nations out-investing the United States by a 3-1 margin – the authors stress that “while the United States might be behind for now, we are far from the finish line.” Thus, they argue, the need is urgent to ramp up cleantech investment now.
Read the full op-ed here.
On 02.28.10, In Events, By Staff
On 02.27.10, In Events, By Staff
On 02.25.10, In News, By Ishan Nath
In a story reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times, a group led by Intel and 24 Venture Capital has pledged $3.5 billion in private investment for tech start-ups. This effort will go hand in hand with a commitment by Intel, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco to hire 10,500 engineers and computer scientists from American universities.
The investments, which will include clean energy as a main focus, are meant to serve a dual purpose in stimulating technological innovation while sending a message to the government about the need for public funding. One prominent executive frames the push this way:
“This investment is one step forward, but also an important bridge-building step with the public sector,” said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a trade organization representing employers. It says “Silicon Valley is serious about putting our wallets where our words are.”