http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48245.htmlSteven Chu outlines energy spending plan
By DARIUS DIXON | 1/26/11 4:13 PM EST
A day after President Obama pitched a clean energy agenda in his State of the Union speech, Energy Secretary Steven Chu outlined the administration’s strategy for producing 80 percent of the nation’s electricity from clean sources by 2035 — and how much it might cost.
The strategy includes doubling the number of the department’s energy innovation hubs to six and adding more than $8 billion for new clean-energy funding in the upcoming budget, roughly a third more than in the president’s 2010 budget request. Obama’s plan to “win the future” suggests that the money would be paid for by cutting tax subsidies for fossil fuel producers.
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Chu continued Obama’s “Sputnik moment” theme to suggest that the United States take the “moon shot” of President John Kennedy as a model, and push instead for a “sun shot” to make solar electricity cost-competitive with fossil sources by the end of the decade.
“This race is more important,” said Chu. “This is an economic race to develop those technologies that the world will want, demand and buy.”<snip>
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/steven-chu-solar-4-times-cheaper-2020.phpSteven Chu: Solar Should be 4 Times Cheaper by 2020
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 01.26.11
I just got off a conference call with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, in which he discussed the vision for clean energy President Obama put forth in last night's State of the Union address. In that speech, Obama proclaimed that this was America's renewable energy Sputnik moment (a line he took from Chu, actually) -- the juncture where we realize we've fallen far behind in clean energy technology and deployment, and get our act together to defeat the world (or something like that). Chu went one further, saying that it's time for a sun shot, to develop better, cheaper solar technology. The goal is to drive costs down, to the point where solar is 4 times cheaper than it is today by the end of the decade.
"If there's a cheap source of clean energy," Chu said, "the world will gobble it up." Indeed. Which is why Chu noted that part of Obama's plan was to "increase investment in clean energy by a third" and to create research hubs that would undertake the new "Apollo projects" of today. He also drew attention to the fact that Obama called for the nation to meet a benchmark of putting one million advanced technology cars on the road by 2015.
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All the talk of clean energy is certainly encouraging, but there was still one glaring omission from Obama's State of the Union -- climate change. Both questions I asked the Secretary addressed this topic: Did the administration have any plans to engage the public on climate change? While the clean energy goals are admirable, there's still an absence of climate policy discussion -- does the administration think the public would benefit from a frank discussion of climate change?
The answer was, in so many words -- not at the moment. Chu explained that while he personally understood that the science supporting climate change was growing stronger all the time, there are still those who feel differently. "You and I may feel strongly that there are those risks," he said, but others may not. He noted that "Even developing countries understand the risks," in places like China -- but, essentially, that the focus should be on innovation and economic benefits of clean power here at home. Chu continues to discuss climate change frankly, here and his speeches around the country, but it's largely absent from the rest of the administration's message.
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http://blog.energy.gov/blog/2011/01/26/missed-todays-town-hall-sec-chuMissed Today's Town Hall with Sec. Chu?
Submitted by Ginny Simmons on January 26, 2011 - 4:02pm
We have the video of today's online town hall event with Secretary Chu up and ready for your viewing. Check it out below.
(embedded video)
During the event, Secretary Chu highlighted several parts of the President Obama’s clean energy and innovation agenda:
• Ending taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuels so we can increase our investments in clean energy by a third;
• Creating three new Energy Innovation Hubs;
• Putting one million advanced technology vehicles on the road by 2015;
• A “Sun Shot” initiative to make solar energy cost-competitive with fossil-based fuels before the end of this decade; And
• An ambitious new goal of having 80 percent of America’s electricity come from clean sources by 2035.
He also provided some inspiring examples of how investments in clean energy work. Among them: The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Lab is a leader in advanced battery research and development. Envia, a California-based start-up that received funding from ARPA-E, licensed and further advanced Argonnne's research. And now General Motors has signed agreement to use Envia's advanced battery technology as it develops its future electric cars.
The Secretary took about 40 minutes of questions from both the in-house audience and the online audiences. Among them: Will the chronically underemployed be among those benefiting from clean energy jobs? How can you make coal a cleaner source of energy? How can we get more biologists going into the bioenergy field instead of just the biomedical field? What can be done on a federal level to make our energy more efficient?
And then the question that ended up being the most memorable was “What is the best way to weatherize your home?,” since the Secretary answered it and then went on to describe his trials and tribulations in finding a solution to the drafty mail slot in his own home's front door.
You can catch the entire event and all of the Secretary's answers in the full video above.
And since this event marked the first of a new yearlong "Energy Matters" live chat series, check back to the Energy Blog as we schedule more in the coming months.
Ginny Simmons is a New Media Specialist with the Department of Energy 
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