DOE SEC CHU TALKS CHINA CHALLENGE

A ‘Sputnik Moment’ for Renewable Energy; Secretary of Energy Chu calls for long-term policies and R&D support to win the clean tech race.
Herman K. Trabish, November 30, 2010 (Greentech Media)

"Sputnik, the first human-made earth-orbiting satellite, was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, while the shortsighted U.S., indifferent to space exploration, obsessed over military weaponry…Despite the failure to get a comprehensive energy bill from the outgoing Congress and the miniscule likelihood of getting one from the incoming Congress, there is a sense of urgency around restarting the drive for a New Energy economy, Chu explained…

"…[T]oday, the Secretary said, U.S. leadership is at risk…China continues, Chu said, to use government investment to drive its private sector…While the U.S. ranks 48th worldwide in the quality of its mathematics and science education, Chu went on, two Chinese universities lead all other institutions in terms of students that go on to earn Ph.Ds from American institutions. China leads in advanced transmission systems, high-speed rail, and is on track to lead the U.S. by 2020 in percentage of energy from renewables."

click thru for Secretary Chu's PowerPoint presentation

[Chu:] “America still has the opportunity to lead in a world that will need a new industrial revolution to give us the energy we want, inexpensively and carbon-free. And it’s a way to secure our future prosperity…but I think time is running out.”

"Critical for economic competitiveness, Chu said, is federal support for research and development…The Secretary discussed ways that the DOE, under President Obama, has worked to drive ‘very exciting technologies’ such as artificial photosynthesis for solar energy, metal oxide batteries to quintuple the capacity of plug-in cars, next generation biofuels, and efficiency improvements in building design."

click thru for Secretary Chu's PowerPoint presentation

"Using loan guarantees, ARPA-E, innovation hubs and the use of supercomputer design simulations to drive breakthroughs, Chu said, the DOE’s goal is to make such technologies affordable without subsidies…In this new Sputnik moment, Chu said, ‘let’s seize this opportunity. And we really can’t afford not to.’ …In his concluding remarks, Secretary Chu pointed out a difference between “this Sputnik event and the Sputnik event of 1957.” Though there is competition between the U.S. and emerging economies like China and India, [there could be immense opportunity fir collaboration]…"

[Chu:] “In the next two decades…China is going to be building a new infrastructure of buildings, cities, roads, transmission lines equivalent to the entire infrastructure of the United States. And 80 percent of what India will have in 2030, doesn’t exist today…[I]f we collaborate with China and India, we both come out better for it.”