CEREL - National Energy Policy News

For the full fact sheet, see http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-clean-energy-technology-announcements. On Monday, December 14th at the Copenhagen climate conference, on behalf of President Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the launch of a new initiative to promote clean energy technologies in developing countries. Secretary Chu also welcomed progress under the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) and invited his counterparts in MEF and other countries to a first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial next year.

Secretary Chu announced the launch of a new Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (Climate REDI). The program will accelerate deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in developing countries – reducing greenhouse gas emissions, fighting energy poverty and improving public health for the most vulnerable, particularly women and children. Climate REDI includes three new clean energy technology programs and funding needed to launch a renewable energy program under the World Bank’s Strategic Climate Fund:

President Obama launched the Major Economies Forum in March 2009, creating a new dialogue among developed and emerging economies to combat climate change and promote clean energy. At their July summit in L’Aquila, Italy, MEF Leaders launched a new Global Partnership on clean energy technologies.

Today MEF countries, including the United States, released ten Technology Action Plans developed under the Global Partnership. These plans summarize mitigation potential of high-priority technologies, highlight best practice policies, and provide a menu of specific actions that countries can take individually and collectively to accelerate development and deployment of low-carbon solutions. The ten technology areas and lead countries are:

To drive this work forward and continue concrete action on global clean energy technology deployment, Secretary Chu today announced that he will host a first-ever Clean Energy Ministerial for MEF and other countries in Washington, D.C., next year.

DECEMBER 10, 2009 - The Obama Administration is seeking public input on policies concerning access to publicly-funded research results, such as those that appear in academic and scholarly journal articles. Currently, the National Institutes of Health require that research funded by its grants be made available to the public online at no charge within 12 months of publication. The Administration is seeking views as to whether this policy should be extended to other science agencies and, if so, how it should be implemented.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and the White House Open Government Initiative are launching a "Public Access Policy Forum" to invite public participation in thinking through what the Federal government's policy should be with regard to public access to published federally-funded research results.

To that end, OSTP will conduct an interactive, online discussion beginning Thursday, December 10. The discussion will focus on three major areas of interest:

* Implementation (Dec. 10 to 20): Which Federal agencies are good candidates to adopt Public Access policies? What variables (field of science, proportion of research funded by public or private entities, etc.) should affect how public access is implemented at various agencies, including the maximum length of time between publication and public release?

You will want to read the "Terms of Participation" and will need to register a new account and log in using the link at the bottom of the page to comment. Tips on how to comment and moderate posts are listed in the right-hand column.

* Features and Technology (Dec. 21 to Dec 31): In what format should the data be submitted in order to make it easy to search and retrieve information, and to make it easy for others to link to it? Are there existing digital standards for archiving and interoperability to maximize public benefit? How are these anticipated to change?

* Management (Jan. 1 to Jan. 7): What are the best mechanisms to ensure compliance? What would be the best metrics of success? What are the best examples of usability in the private sector (both domestic and international)? Should those who access papers be given the opportunity to comment or provide feedback?

Each of these topics will form the basis of a blog posting that will appear at www.whitehouse.gov/openand will be open for comment on the OSTP blog at blog.ostp.gov. For full details, see the Federal Register notice.

DOE Launches New Website to Bring Energy Technology Information to the Public

DECEMBER 9, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary Chu announced that the Department of Energy is launching Open Energy Information (www.openEI.org) - a new open-source web platform that will make DOE resources and open energy data widely available to the public. The data and tools housed on the free, editable and evolving wiki-platform will be used by government officials, the private sector, project developers, the international community, and others to help deploy clean energy technologies across the country and around the world.

DOE worked closely with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and other National Laboratories to develop and populate the Open Energy Information Platform. The site currently houses more than 60 clean energy resources and data sets, including maps of worldwide solar and wind potential, information on climate zones, and best practices. OpenEI.org also links to the Virtual Information Bridge to Energy (VIBE), which is designed as a data analysis hub that will provide a dynamic portal for better understanding energy data. NREL will continue to develop, monitor, and maintain both sites.

Members of the American public and the energy community globally will have the opportunity going forward to upload additional data to the site and download the information in easy-to-use formats. OpenEI.org will also play an important role providing technical resources, including U.S. lab tools, which can be used by developing countries as they move toward clean energy deployment. Over time, the plan is to expand this portal to include on-line training and technical expert networks.

DOE and USDA Select Projects for more than $24 Million in Biomass Research and Development Grants

NOVEMBER 12, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy today announced projects selected for more than $24 million in grants to research and develop technologies to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million announced today, DOE plans to invest up to $4.9 million with USDA contributing up to $19.5 million. Advanced biofuels produced through this funding are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared to today’s biofuels.

“The selected projects will help make bioenergy production from renewable resources more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “This work will also benefit rural America by leading to new processing plants and new opportunities for U.S. farmers and foresters.”

“Innovation is crucial to the advancement of alternative, renewable energy sources, and these awards will spur the research needed to make significant progress in bioenergy development,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Projects announced today must contribute a minimum of 20 percent of matching funds for research and development projects and 50 percent of matching funds for demonstration projects. Funding is provided through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and DOE’s Biomass Program. Selected projects are aimed at increasing the availability of alternative fuels and biobased products that are produced from a diverse group of renewable sources of biomass.

NOVEMBER 6, 2009 - The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Technology Innovation Program (TIP) is seeking comments on white papers prepared by TIP staff from any interested party, including academia; Federal, state, and local governments; industry; national laboratories; and professional organizations/ societies.

This current call for comments on white papers pertains to four areas of critical national need, including Energy and Smart Grid, Civil Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Healthcare. The proposed topic area within the critical national need area of energy is based on the draft white paper Technologies to Enable a Smart Grid, which outlines the technologies that will be required to enable a reliable smart grid approach to electric power distribution, demand, and response control, grid connectivity, and the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid. The proposed topic aims to address research in energy storage systems and the integration of stored energy into the grid system, advanced sensors and their energy sources to be deployed along the grid, and communication and control technologies (high voltage power electronics). The draft white paper for the proposed topic of Energy can be found at http://www.nist.gov/tip/wp_cmts/index.html.

NOVEMBER 5, 2009 - Climate-friendly policies not only reduce greenhouse emissions and bring environmental benefits; they also boost and diversify the economy, a recent report scoring some 100 climate policies from G20 countries reveals. The report carried out by Ecofys and Germanwatch for WWF and E3G evaluates climate policies of countries accounting for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, identifying best and worst examples and lessons learned.

The top places in the report were given to an "Efficiency in buildings" program implemented by the German government and a "Feed-in tariff for renewable electricity" initiative, also in Germany. The latter guarantees a producer of renewable energy a fixed feed-in tariff for 20 years. Germany's buildings program reduces emissions, creates jobs in the construction sector, and offers broad scope for replication in others countries.

The report also exposes a number of bad policies, often in the same countries where the good policies were implemented, which both fail to deliver economic benefits and block the way to a low carbon future. These include measures such as subsidizing of local mining, preferential treatment of energy-intensive industries and lack of comprehensive water management.

NOVEMBER 4, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC - A new EU-US Energy Council was launched today in Washington. The meeting brought together the Commissioners for Energy, Andris Piebalgs, External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Research, Janez Potočnik, with the US Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton and US Secretary for Energy Steven Chu to launch the EU-US Energy Council.

The EU-US Energy Council will provide a new framework for deepening the transatlantic dialogue on strategic energy issues such as security of supply or policies to move towards low carbon energy sources while strengthening the ongoing scientific collaboration on energy technologies.

Secretary Chu Announces More than $155 Million for Industrial Energy Efficiency Projects

NOVEMBER 3, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC— Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy is awarding more than $155 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for 41 industrial energy efficiency projects across the country. These awards include funding for industrial combined heat and power systems, district energy systems for industrial facilities, and grants to support technical and financial assistance to local industry. The industrial sector uses more than 30 percent of U.S. energy and is responsible for nearly 30 percent of U.S. carbon emissions.

“To remain globally competitive, American industry needs to be energy efficient. The funding for industrial energy efficiency technologies announced today will support a robust American industrial sector and help to usher in a clean energy economy,” said Secretary Chu. “Many companies already realize that improving efficiency saves money while helping the environment. These projects will make energy efficiency technologies more widely available, cutting energy use and reducing carbon pollution across the country.”

Nine projects announced today will promote the use of combined heat and power, district energy systems, waste energy recovery systems, and energy efficiency initiatives in hospitals, utilities, and industrial sites. Combined Heat and Power and District Energy Systems generate both the heat and power needed for industrial processes on-site, instead of using electricity from the grid, and can be nearly twice as efficient as conventional heat and power production. These 9 awards – totaling approximately $150 million – will be leveraged with $634 million in private industry cost share for a total project value of up to $785 million. These industrial efficiency projects will result in almost 14 trillion Btu in estimated energy savings, which is equivalent to over 112 million gallons of gasoline per year.

The remaining 32 awards will provide local technical support for the industrial sector through university-based Industrial Assessment Centers, state agencies, regional partnerships, and a national technical assistance provider. This funding will enable DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program to provide technical and financial support for local businesses and manufacturing facilities to save energy and reduce their energy costs, obtain financing to realize significant gains in efficiency and productivity, and save and create manufacturing and industrial sector jobs across the country.

These 32 projects are an extension of DOE’s successful Save Energy Now initiative, which provides plant energy assessments and technical assistance to energy intensive industrial facilities. Since the program’s inception in 2006, more than 2,300 assessments have been completed. Over 1,500 industrial facilities implemented the identified energy measures, which have saved $218 million, 35 trillion Btu and 2.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Department of Energy Awards $338 Million to Accelerate Domestic Geothermal Energy

OCTOBER 29, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies. These grants will support 123 projects in 39 states, with recipients including private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and DOE’s National Laboratories. The grants will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds.

“The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy,” said Secretary Chu. “These investments in America's technological innovation will allow us to capture more of this clean, carbon free energy at a lower cost than ever before. We will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help to jumpstart the geothermal industry across the United States.”

These grants are directed towards identifying and developing new geothermal fields and reducing the upfront risk associated with geothermal development through innovative exploration and drilling projects and data development and collection. In addition, the grants will support the deployment and creative financing approaches for ground source heat pump demonstration projects across the country.

Collectively, these projects will represent a dramatic expansion of the U.S. geothermal industry and will create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration, construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source heat pump equipment.

The projects selected for negotiation of awards fall in six categories:

Innovative Exploration and Drilling Projects (up to $98.1 million): Twenty-four projects have been selected focusing on the development of new geothermal fields using innovative sensing, exploration, and well-drilling technologies.
Coproduced, Geopressured, and Low Temperature Projects (up to $20.7 million): Eleven projects have been selected for the development of new low-temperature geothermal fields, a vast but currently untapped set of geothermal resources. This includes geothermal heat found in the hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells around the U.S., where up to ten barrels of hot water are produced for every barrel of oil.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstrations (up to $51.4 million): Three projects have been selected for the exploration, drilling and development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to validate power production from deep hot rock resources using innovative technologies and approaches.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems Components Research and Development / Analysis (up to $81.5 million): Forty-five projects have been selected to focus on research and development of new technologies to find and drill into deep hot rock formations, stimulate enhanced geothermal reservoirs, and convert the heat to power.
Geothermal Data Development, Collection and Maintenance (up to $24.6 million): Three projects have been selected for the population of a comprehensive nationwide geothermal resource database to help identify and assess new fields.
Ground Source Heat Pump Demonstrations (up to $61.9 million): Thirty-seven projects have been selected to demonstrate the deployment of ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling of a variety of buildings for a variety of customer types, including academic institutions, local governments and commercial buildings.

View the project selections announced today.

DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Program works in partnership with U.S. industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply. Learn more information about these awards on the Geothermal Technologies Program website at http://geothermal.energy.gov.

Source: October 29, 2009 DOE Press Release

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President Obama Announces $3.4 Billion Investment to Spur Transition to Smart Energy Grid

OCTOBER 27, 2009, ARCADIA, FL – Speaking at Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, President Barack Obama today announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system. The end result will promote energy-saving choices for consumers, increase efficiency, and foster the growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

The $3.4 billion in grant awards are part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and will be matched by industry funding for a total public-private investment worth over $8 billion. Applicants state that the projects will create tens of thousands of jobs, and consumers in 49 states will benefit from these investments in a stronger, more reliable grid. Full listings of the grant awards by category and state are available HERE and HERE. A map of the awards is available HERE.

An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the implementation of smart grid technologies could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent by 2030. That would mean a savings of $20.4 billion for businesses and consumers around the country, and $1.6 billion for Florida alone -- or $56 in utility savings for every man, woman and child in Florida.

One-hundred private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners received the Smart Grid Investment Grant awards today, including FPL, which will use its $200 million in funding to install over 2.5 million smart meters and other technologies that will cut energy costs for its customers. In the coming days, Cabinet Members and Administration officials will fan out to awardee sites across the country to discuss how this investment will create jobs, improve the reliability and efficiency of the electrical grid, and help bring clean energy sources from high-production states to those with less renewable generating capacity. The awards announced today represent the largest group of Recovery Act awards ever made in a single day and the largest batch of Recovery Act clean energy grant awards to-date.

Source: October 27, 2009 DOE Press Release

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OCTOBER 26, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC - The Department of Energy announced major funding for 37 ambitious research projects – including some that could allow intermittent energy sources like wind and solar to provide a steady flow of power, or use bacteria to produce automotive fuel from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

The $151 million in funding is being awarded through the Department’s recently-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (“ARPA-E”). ARPA-E’s mission is to develop nimble, creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership. This is the first round of projects funded under ARPA-E, which is receiving total of $400 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In announcing the selections, Secretary Chu said: “After World War II, America was the unrivaled leader in basic and applied sciences. It was this leadership that led to enormous technological advances. ARPA-E is a crucial part of the new effort by the U.S. to spur the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, creating thousands of new jobs and helping cut carbon pollution.”

The grants will go to projects with lead researchers in 17 states. Of the lead recipients, 43% are small businesses, 35% are educational institutions, and 19% are large corporations. In supporting these teams, ARPA-E seeks to bring together America's brightest energy innovators to pioneer a low cost, secure, and low carbon energy future for the nation.

ARPA-E was originally established under the America Competes Act of 2007. In April, President Obama announced $400 million in initial funding for the agency. The projects unveiled today are part of the first solicitation from ARPA-E’s $400 million in total Recovery Act funding. The 37 selected projects, which are receiving an average of approximately $4 million each, span the energy sector, including potentially transformative innovations in energy storage, biofuels, carbon capture, renewable power, building efficiency, vehicles, and other energy technology areas.
Inspired by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ARPA-E was created to support high risk, high reward energy research that can provide transformative new solutions for climate change and energy security.

This first ARPA-E solicitation was highly competitive and oversubscribed, with over 3,600 initial concept papers received. Of those, approximately 300 full applications were requested and ultimately 37 final awardees through a rigorous review process with input from multiple review panels composed of leading U.S. energy science and technology experts and ARPA-E’s program managers. Evaluations were based on the potential for high impact on ARPA-E’s goals and scientific and technical merit.

The project selections announced today can be found here.

A second set of ARPA-E funding opportunities will be announced later this fall. Please visit www.arpa-e-.energy.gov for more information about these selections, upcoming technical workshops, and new funding opportunities.

Source: October 26, 2009 DOE Press Release

Remarks by the President Challenging Americans to Lead the Global Economy in Clean Energy

Friday, October 23, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts

(excerpt) "....So the truth is, we have always been about innovation, we have always been about discovery. That's in our DNA. The truth is we also face more complex challenges than generations past. A medical system that holds the promise of unlocking new cures is attached to a health care system that has the potential to bankrupt families and businesses and our government. A global marketplace that links the trader on Wall Street to the homeowner on Main Street to the factory worker in China -- an economy in which we all share opportunity is also an economy in which we all share crisis. We face threats to our security that seek -- there are threats to our security that are based on those who would seek to exploit the very interconnectedness and openness that's so essential to our prosperity. The system of energy that powers our economy also undermines our security and endangers our planet.

Now, while the challenges today are different, we have to draw on the same spirit of innovation that's always been central to our success. And that's especially true when it comes to energy. There may be plenty of room for debate as to how we transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels -- we all understand there's no silver bullet to do it. There's going to be a lot of debate about how we move from an economy that's importing oil to one that's exporting clean energy technology; how we harness the innovative potential on display here at MIT to create millions of new jobs; and how we will lead the world to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. There are going to be all sorts of debates, both in the laboratory and on Capitol Hill. But there's no question that we must do all these things.

Countries on every corner of this Earth now recognize that energy supplies are growing scarcer, energy demands are growing larger, and rising energy use imperils the planet we will leave to future generations. And that's why the world is now engaged in a peaceful competition to determine the technologies that will power the 21st century. From China to India, from Japan to Germany, nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to producing and use energy. The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I am convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation. It's that simple."

Filling some of the remaining holes in the Obama administration's energy and environmental team, the Senate confirmed two Energy department nominees on Wednesday, October 22.

The Senate unanimously approved Arun Majumdar to direct the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E); and Jose Antonio Garcia to be director of DOE's Office of Minority Economic Impact.

Majumdar, who has been associate laboratory director for energy and environmental sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will head ARPA-E, a new Energy Department agency dedicated to developing breakthrough technologies. The agency, authorized in 2007, is designed to select and fund high-risk, high-reward research into technologies that can curb energy imports and greenhouse gas emissions. It is modeled after the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

ARPA-E received its first funding, $15 million, in a fiscal 2009 spending bill and then an additional $400 million in the economic stimulus law this year. DOE is currently reviewing research proposals submitted following the first ARPA-E solicitation earlier this year.

At the confirmation hearing, Majumdar pledged to grow the agency into "a robust engine of American innovation" and said speed, calculated risks, internal competition and agility will be the keys to its success. Asked how long members of Congress should give the agency before beginning to gauge its effectiveness, Majumdar said the timeline depends on what types of technology are being developed, but it could be three to five years or longer. He also discussed ways to boost energy efficiency.

Majumdar, a native of India, is an engineering and materials science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His areas of interest include energy efficiency technology and using nanotechnology to harness energy lost as heat during electricity production, according to the Lawrence Berkeley lab.

Majumdar took over the lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division in 2007 and has been associate lab director for energy and environmental sciences since February. He has been on the University of California's faculty since 1997. Energy Secretary Steven Chu headed the Berkeley lab before becoming secretary.

Garcia, a former Florida utilities regulator, will direct the office tasked with building partnerships between DOE and minority institutions and businesses.

The late Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles (D) appointed Garcia to the Florida Public Service Commission in the early 1990s, and in 1998, he became chairman and helped pass the largest electricity rate cut in the state's history, reducing costs to consumers by about $1 billion, according to the White House.

Garcia has more recently been involved in politics. He ran unsuccessfully last year for the Miami-based congressional seat held by Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and is a former chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. He has also served as executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation and executive vice president and director of the Hispanic Project for the left-leaning Washington think tank NDN.

In a statement at his August confirmation hearing, Garcia said the United States "cannot afford to continue to underutilize small and disadvantaged businesses, or continue the under-representation of minorities in the technical and scientific work force and industries."

Garcia said he would make it a priority to ensure that minority-owned businesses and minority educational institutions are included in DOE's implementation of the recent economic stimulus law, which steers $38 billion through DOE for an array of renewable energy, energy efficiency and other programs.

Secretary Chu Announces New Investments in Cutting-Edge Wind Energy Research Facilities

OCTOBER 15, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced new investments today in three university-led wind energy research facilities that will enhance the United States’ leadership role in testing and producing the most advanced and efficient wind turbines in the world. The funding is from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the research will focus on improving both land-based and offshore wind generation.&;nbsp;

“Wind power has the potential to provide 20 percent of our electricity and create hundreds of thousands of jobs,” said Secretary Chu. “We need to position the United States as the clear leader in this industry, or watch these high-paying jobs go overseas. The investment we’re making today will help ensure that America has both the talent and the technology we need to compete.”

Three university-led consortia have been selected for up to $24 million to support university research and development programs to improve land-based and offshore wind turbine performance and reliability, as well as provide career educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in wind energy technologies. The three competitively selected, university-led projects will include partners from private industry, state and local governments, and other universities. The projects selected today support the Obama Administration’s focus on increasing clean energy generation, while supporting the long-term development of a clean energy workforce.

Over the next two years, the university consortia will acquire utility-scale and prototype wind turbines that will provide researchers and students with hands-on R&D and educational opportunities on the most rapidly growing form of renewable energy in the country. Universities will also use the DOE funds to enhance their wind technology curricula and provide financial assistance to students for research fellowships and internships with the rapidly expanding wind industry.

Final award amounts are subject to final project negotiations. For more information about the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program, visit: www.windandhydro.energy.gov

Source: October 15, 2009 DOE Press Release

New Energy Web Portal from EIA Explains Topics in Plain Language

OCTOBER 15, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC - Energy Explained , a new web portal launched on October 7 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), celebrates Energy Awareness Month with the most comprehensive energy education resource available from the U.S. Government.

The site explains where gasoline comes from, what determines the price of electricity, how much renewable energy the United States uses, and hundreds of other energy topics.

“Energy touches us in many ways every day, from the electricity that lights our homes to the fuel we use in our cars,” said EIA Administrator Richard Newell. “Energy Explained uses plain language and clear graphics to help explain a sometimes complex, but vital subject.”

Energy Explained includes a “rate this page” feature so visitors can easily give EIA feedback on any page.

DOE Announces $87 Million in Funding to Support Solar Energy Technologies
Projects Aim to Accelerate Adoption of Solar Energy and Develop Solar Workforce

OCTOBER 8, 2009, WASHINGTON, DC – At the opening of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon on the National Mall, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $87 million will be made available to support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free solar energy systems. Of this funding, $50 million comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The 47 projects with universities, electric power utilities, DOE’s National Laboratories, and local governments have been selected to support use of solar technologies in U.S. cities, help address technical challenges, ensure reliable connectivity with the electrical grid, and train a new generation of solar workers to install and maintain solar energy systems. These projects will help speed adoption of solar energy nationwide, while supporting development of a skilled workforce, and continuing to pursue new scientific breakthroughs to increase the efficiency and lower the cost of solar technologies.

“Today’s awards are among the many investments made to create new jobs and a clean energy future with solar power. The projects will help accelerate the use of solar energy by residents, businesses and communities, and promote the long-term viability of solar energy by investing in the technologies of the future” said Secretary Chu. “I applaud each of these award winners who are vital to moving our country towards a sustainable solar infrastructure.”

The selected projects will help accelerate the commercialization of solar technologies in an effort to achieve cost-competitive solar electricity by 2015, in addition to developing advanced solar technologies for the future. Projects focus on both technology improvements and the elimination of market barriers to help make solar electricity accessible to a wide variety of consumers.

For a more information about the Solar Energy Technologies Program and a list of selections, please visit: www.solar.energy.gov .

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009 - On September 1st, the Royal Society published a major study entitled “Geo-engineering the climate: science, governance and uncertainty”. The accompanying press release states: “Global efforts to reduce emissions have not yet been sufficiently successful to provide confidence that the reductions needed to avoid dangerous climate change will be achieved. This has led to growing interest in geo-engineering, defined here as the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planet to counteract anthropogenic climate change.” The website link is http://royalsociety.org/news.asp?id=8734. From there you can click through to the whole report which can be downloaded.

Also this month, Professor David MacKay was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of the Environment and Climate Change. He will take up the post on October 1st, 2009. His recent book, “Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air”, published in the UK last December, and in the USA on May 1st, 2009, sets out the scale of the energy challenge. The book may be downloaded free from the web-site http://www.withouthotair.com. He caused a slight stir on September 11th when he told the BBC that the UK could face blackouts by 2016 because green energy is not coming on stream fast enough. Click on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8249540.stm/ for more details.

Yesterday, 17 leading doctors from all over the world published a letter simultaneously in Britain’s two principal health journals, The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, warning that human society faced a global health catastrophe if climate change was not effectively challenged at the forthcoming UN conference in Copenhagen. The letter is given in full in both journals, see http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/onlinefirst and click on Correspondence – Sep 16th 2009 Politicians must heed health effects of climate change – Full Text. The letter received front page coverage in the Independent newspaper: the link is: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-will-damage-your-health-1787948.html.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 - Nearly 100 world leaders accepted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's invitation to participate in an historic Summit on Climate Change in New York on 22 September to mobilize political will and strengthen momentum for a fair, effective, and ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen this December. Failure to reach broad agreement in Copenhagen would be morally inexcusable, economically short-sighted and politically unwise, the Secretary-General said in his opening address. Now is the moment to act in common cause.

The Summit marks the first UN visit for the Presidents of China and the United States as well as the newly elected Prime Minister of Japan. For the complete list of speakers, please see Programme.

"Mr. Secretary, as we meet here today, the good news is that after too many years of inaction and denial, there's finally widespread recognition of the urgency of the challenge before us. We know what needs to be done. We know that our planet's future depends on a global commitment to permanently reduce greenhouse gas pollution. We know that if we put the right rules and incentives in place, we will unleash the creative power of our best scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs to build a better world. And so many nations have already taken the first step on the journey towards that goal."

"But the journey is long and the journey is hard. And we don't have much time left to make that journey. It's a journey that will require each of us to persevere through setbacks, and fight for every inch of progress, even when it comes in fits and starts. So let us begin. For if we are flexible and pragmatic, if we can resolve to work tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose: a world that is safer, cleaner, and healthier than the one we found;
and a future that is worthy of our children."

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Third Way, and the Breakthrough Institute call for Creation of a “National Institutes of Energy” and Dramatic Increase in Federal Funding for Energy R&D

WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 - Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and leading DC-based think tank Third Way are the latest political figures to issue a call for significantly increased public investment to catalyze clean energy innovation. The Ohio Senator and the moderate progressive think tank joined the Breakthrough Institute today to unveil a new report calling for both the creation of a "National Institutes of Energy" and a dramatic increase in federal funding for energy research and development. The report, titled Jumpstarting a Clean Energy Revolution with a National Institutes of Energy, argues that these two measures are necessary to make clean energy cheap and get America running on clean energy.

Modeled after the National Institutes of Health, a New National Institutes of Energy (NIE) would be designed to most effectively channel R&D funding toward the development of new, low-cost commercial clean energy technologies. The NIE would function as a nationwide network of regionally based, commercially focused, and coordinated innovation institutes. Alongside other effective research institutions, the new NIE would critically strengthen the nation's energy innovation capacity.

The report also calls for a sustained increase of $15 billion in annual federal energy R&D funding, consistent with President Barack Obama's proposals. This would result in a total annual R&D budget of roughly $20 billion per year. The purpose of both the R&D increase and the establishment of a new NIE is to close what the authors call "the clean energy price gap" - the difference between the current low price of carbon-intensive energy production like coal and the comparatively higher price of today's non- or low- carbon emitting technologies.

New Funding from DOE Boosts Carbon Capture and Storage Research and Development

WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced more than $62 million in funding that will boost carbon capture and storage research and development in the years to come. Today’s investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act reflects the Obama Administration’s commitment to creating new jobs, having the U.S. be a leader on climate change, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

"Given the importance of coal to our energy future in the United States, China and other countries, it's crucial that we develop ways to capture and store carbon pollution," said Secretary Chu. "These technologies will not only give us a healthier planet, they will strengthen our economy and lay a foundation for a new generation of clean energy jobs."

As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to develop technologies to store carbon dioxide emissions, DOE is awarding $49.75 million to conduct site characterization studies of promising geologic formations for carbon dioxide storage. The 11 projects announced today will increase the understanding of the potential for these formations to safely and permanently store carbon dioxide.

The projects selected will work to determine the usefulness of potential geologic storage sites, and supplement existing data through coordination with a public database and participating in technical working groups on best practices for site characterization and approving storage site selections. The information gained from these projects will further DOE’s effort to develop an assessment of carbon dioxide storage capacity in geologic formations across the country.

Today’s announcement includes $12.7 million in funding for geologic sequestration training and research projects. These projects – 43 in total - will offer training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to develop the skills required for implementing and deploying carbon capture and storage technologies.

The projects selected will provide resources in universities across the country in the following advanced research areas:

The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday passed the Wind Energy Research and Development Act of 2009, a bill that would authorize a comprehensive program to improve the efficiency, reliability and cost effectiveness of domestic wind energy systems. The House bill (H.R. 3165) was sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY 21) and passed with bipartisan support in a voice vote. The bill requires the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program of research and development to improve the energy efficiency, reliability, and capacity of wind turbines; optimize the design and adaptability of wind energy systems; and reduce the cost of construction, generation, and maintenance of wind energy systems. Specifically, this program would include:

The bill would also create a demonstration program to measure wind energy performance that would include the full range of wind conditions across the country. That data would be then used as part of the research and development program. It also requires that the demonstration programs be conducted in collaboration with private industry. The bill authorizes $200 million dollars per year from 2010 through 2014 for these programs.

ARPA-E Request for Information on Future Funding Opportunities
Responses due September 25

WASHINGTON, DC, AUGUST 31, 2009 – The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) announced today a formal Request for Information (RFI) for future funding opportunities. The RFI requests public input on potential ARPA-E programmatic areas and opportunities to overcome technological roadblocks to the development of transformational technologies relevant to the ARPA-E mission. The information collected through this process will assist ARPA-E in developing new programs and funding opportunities.

ARPA-E’s first Funding Opportunity Announcement, released on April 27, 2009, and solicited a broad range of ideas for transformational energy technology development. With this RFI, ARPA-E is now reaching out to the public for input on specific programmatic energy technology areas that may be well-suited to provide transformational impacts on ARPA-E’s mission areas of reducing foreign energy imports; decreasing energy related emissions, including those of greenhouse gases; increasing energy efficiency across the U.S. economy, and ensuring that the U.S. maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.

Responses to the RFI are due to ARPA-E by September 25, 2009. To review the RFI, please visit http://arpa-e.energy.gov/PI.html. For more information about ARPA-E, please visit http://arpa-e.energy.gov/.

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DOE Selects Biofuels Projects to Receive up to $21 Million in Funding

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that up to $21 million will be made available for the selection of five projects that will develop supply systems to handle and deliver high tonnage biomass feedstocks for cellulosic biofuels production.
Today's announcement is in response to a funding opportunity announcement issued by DOE back in March. The chosen awards were selected as the best projects to stimulate the design and demonstration of a comprehensive system to handle the harvesting, collection, preprocessing, transport, and storage of sufficient volumes of sustainably produced feedstocks. Feedstocks or combinations of feedstocks that were considered include: agricultural residues, energy crops (e.g., switchgrass, miscanthus, energycane, sorghum, poplar, willow), forest resources (e.g., forest thinnings, wood chips, wood wastes, small diameter trees), and urban wood wastes.

AUGUST 10, 2009 - In the second of four Capitol Hill-centered renewable energy briefings held on July 16, top energy experts outlined technological barriers and needed policies for renewable energy storage, an important component of clean power utilization. ASME, IEEE-USA, the National Science Foundation and DISCOVER magazine hosted the event. Guest speakers Dan Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ralph Massiello, senior vice president and innovation manager at business consulting company KEMA, Inc. told a group of about 80 people that hydrogen would become the nation's next primary energy source. But in the meantime, pumped-hydro storage, compressed air energy storage and battery technologies would need to serve as a bridge while the economy moved from oil to hydrogen. The two made the remarks as part of the "Road to the New Energy Economy" briefing series. Video of the full presentation (and past events) can be found here: http://discovermagazine.com/events/road-to-new-energy-economy/. The next briefing on "Increasing Efficiency" will be held on Sept. 17 and a final session on "Transitional Technologies" will take place on Oct. 15. Both briefings are scheduled in the Rayburn House Office Building in room B-338, from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. For more information about these events, click on the above link.

WASHINGTON, AUGUST 9, 2009, DOE Press Release – U.S Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that more than $327 million in new funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will go toward scientific research, instrumentation, and laboratory infrastructure projects. Ten of DOE’s national laboratories in six states will be receiving funds, along with researchers at institutions of higher learning across the nation.

“These new initiatives will help to create new jobs while allowing the U.S. to maintain its scientific leadership and economic competitiveness ,” said Secretary Steven Chu. “The projects provide vital funding and new tools for research aimed at strengthening America’s energy security and tackling some of science’s toughest challenges.”

Of the $327 million in Recovery Act funding announced today, $107.5 million is slated to go to universities, nonprofit organizations, and private firms, generally on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis. The remaining $220 million will go to U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories for a range of research, instrumentation, and infrastructure projects, including $164.7 million for projects already allocated as follows:

In March Secretary Chu announced $1.2 billion in DOE Office of Science Recovery Act projects. In July, DOE announced a new Office of Science Early Career Research Program to be funded with $85 million in Recovery Act funds. With this third and final round of projects, the Obama Administration has now approved projects covering the full $1.6 billion that the DOE Office of Science received from Congress under the Recovery Act.

WASHINGTON, AUGUST 7, 2009 - Energy Secretary Steven Chu outlined his vision today for turning the national laboratories into energy-innovation factories.

Drawing on his experiences as a scientist at Bell Laboratories and as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Nobel-winning physicist told a panel of federal science advisers that their $26 billion research network should do less basic science and more work on large-scale innovations.

"We don't have any intention of cutting [basic science] off ... but actually having something out there to focus the mind is not so bad," Chu told the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology at a meeting in Washington.

Chu is pressing Congress to provide more money for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, to promote research at universities and private labs for developing "transformational" and "breakthrough" technologies. He is also pushing to establish what he calls energy innovation hubs where he says scientists would be free to work on major energy problems with minimal bureaucratic oversight.

His model for DOE scientists is the Manhattan Project, the World War II nuclear project that Chu described as bringing scientists and engineers together and aiming them at developing solutions quickly.

Chu is hoping innovation hubs and ARPA-E will help solve energy problems without the usual bureaucratic delays.

"Under those circumstances, you can go really fast," Chu said. "It's not about writing research papers anymore. ... Just like when venture capitalists invest, a large part of what they're investing in is people as well as the business plan." He added, "We want to invest in people." To accomplish his goals, Chu must work past what many see as long-term systemic problems with the lab system.

"A major criticism of the Energy Department over the last couple of decades is that it hasn't had innovative ideas," said Chad Mirkin, director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University and a member of the federal advisory panel. "If you're going to change things, it's going to take smart people on the outside to shake things up and challenge the conventional wisdom and think about things in a different way."

Among those who must be convinced are members of Congress. Appropriators provided $15 million for ARPA-E in fiscal 2009, and the stimulus law provided an additional $400 million. The House proposed keeping funding at $15 million for fiscal 2010, as well. But the innovation hub proposal has failed to get the same support.

The House spending bill for fiscal 2010 restricts funding to $35 million to establish one hub, and the House Appropriations Committee's report says the hubs "appear to be redundant" with existing DOE initiatives, like the Energy Frontier Research Centers and ARPA-E.

The Senate spending bill blocked five of the eight hubs outright, approved one and shifted funding from the stimulus law to pay for two others. DOE had proposed spending $280 million to establish the hubs.

"On the first pass, we had some trouble convincing the House it was a good idea," he said. "But we'll figure out how to communicate."

EIA Report: Energy Market and Economic Impacts of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

WASHINGTON, AUGUST 4, 2009

Summary: This report responds to a request to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) from Chairman Henry Waxman and Chairman Edward Markey for an analysis of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA). Key provisions of ACESA that are represented in the policy cases developed in this analysis include:

ARPA-E Moves Closer to Selecting Awards for Transformational Energy
ARPA-E Encouraging Full Proposals for Transformational R&D

WASHINGTON, JULY 29, 2009 - The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) of the U.S. Department of Energy has completed the evaluation of the Concept Papers received in response to its first Funding Opportunity Announcement released April 27, 2009. ARPA-E reviewed approximately 3,500 Concept Papers submitted for this FOA (DE-FOA-0000065).

ARPA-E today provided feedback to Concept Paper applicants on their proposals. The deadline for applicants to submit a Full Application is August 28, 2009, with final selections expected by mid fall. ARPA-E expects to issue its second FOA in the near future, with others to follow.

For more information about ARPA-E, please visit http://arpa-e.energy.gov.

WASHINGTON, JULY 27, 2009 - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just released a Policy Statement to provide guidance regarding the development of a smart grid for the nation's electric transmission system, focusing on the development of key standards to achieve interoperability and functionality of smart grid systems and devices. In response to the need for urgent action on potential challenges to the bulk-power system, in this Policy Statement the Commission provides additional guidance on standards to help to realize a smart grid. The Commission also adopts an Interim Rate Policy for the period until interoperability standards are adopted by the Commission, which will encourage investment in smart grid systems.

David Andrejcak, Office of Electric Reliability, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6721, david.andrejcak@ferc.gov
Elizabeth H. Arnold, Office of General Counsel, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8818, elizabeth.arnold@ferc.gov
Ray Palmer, Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6569, ray.palmer@ferc.gov
Dennis Reardon, Office of Energy Market Regulation, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6719, dennis.reardon@ferc.gov

WASHINGTON , JULY 22, 2009 - The Department of Energy proposes to launch eight Energy Innovation Hubs in FY 2010 - one focused on each of the national energy-related topics listed below:

The Secretary of Energy has identified the problems in these topic areas as presenting the most critical barriers to achieving national energy and climate goals while proving the most resistant to solution by usual R&D enterprise structures. The Energy Innovation Hubs represent a new structure, modeled after research laboratories like the Manhattan Project Labs (e.g. Los Alamos and the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago), Lincoln Labs at MIT that developed radar, and AT&T Bell Laboratories that developed the transistor. The DOE's Bioenergy Research Centers have adopted some of the organizational aspects of the Energy Innovation Hubs.

Each Hub will focus on a single topic, but with work spanning the gamut from (i) basic research through (ii) engineering development to (iii) partnering with industry in commercialization. Each Hub will comprise a highly collaborative team utilizing multiple scientific, engineering, and where appropriate, economics, and public-policy disciplines, working largely under one roof. By bringing together top talent across the full spectrum of R&D performers -- including universities, private industry, non-profits, and government laboratories -- each Hub is expected to become a world-leading R&D center in its topical area.

The Innovation Hubs will develop and deliver transformational energy technologies that will be deployed by the private sector or by public-private partnerships.

For more, see the fact sheet, which breaks down Hub logistics and explains what distinguishes traditional principal-investigator research, the recently launched Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) and ARPA-E from the proposed Hubs.

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