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Energy Frontier Research Centers: Tackling US Energy Challenges Print E-mail
bridges vol. 22, July 2009 / Institutions & Organizations

By Philipp Marxgut


With the advent of the Obama administration a new wind is blowing in the US capital, a wind that has also brought change to S&T. Among the top challenges are climate change and energy.  "Driving the energy-technology innovation needed to reduce energy imports and climate-change risks, while creating green jobs and competitive new businesses" is one of four top S&T priorities for the US, according to Science Advisor John Holdren. 1   

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Energy Secretary Steven Chu and President Barack Obama
With Nobel Prize-winner Steven Chu as the energy secretary, Barack Obama has chosen a first-rate scientist to lead the green energy revolution in the Department of Energy (DOE). Prior to his appointment, Chu led the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in pursuit of new alternative and renewable energies.

Immediately after his confirmation, Dr. Chu began to untangle the red tape and start the changes required to develop a more carbon-constrained US economy. On top of the FY2009 budget of the DOE, Chu received an additional $38.71 billion in stimulus funding to implement the vision of becoming the world's leading exporter of renewable energy.

Within the Office of Science, the basic research funding arm of DOE, $777 million will go into 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) over a period of five years. Roughly one-third of the centers are supported by Recovery Act funding. Each center will receive between $2 million to $5 million per year for an initial five-year period.

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A new wind is blowing that should overcome hurdles which block energy breakthroughs.
The 46 EFRCs were selected from a pool of 260 applications and will be established at 31 universities, 12 DOE National Laboratories, 2 non-profits, and at a corporate research laboratory. Among the host institutions are MIT, Princeton, Michigan State, Carnegie Institution, Argonne, and Oak Ridge.

"EFRCs are small-scale collaborations that focus on overcoming known hurdles in basic science that block energy breakthroughs - not on developing energy technologies themselves," Secretary Chu testified before Congress. 2

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