A New Day Dawns for Solar
2007-03-16
By Chris Nelder
Normally, I hate Daylight Saving Time. The compulsion to get up an hour earlier rankles . . . it seems so arbitrary. And moving it up several weeks this year, in order to save some energy, got only scornful derision from me when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed, because it seemed like such a cop-out on the hard work of developing a truly sustainable and sensible energy policy.
And perhaps it still is. But, speaking as a guy who is most definitely not a “morning person,” I have been welcoming the wakeup hour since the switch, watching out the window from my bed as the night gives way to the golden light of dawn stealing over the opposite ridge.
The light calls like a claxon, heralding a glorious new day.
Because in the solar world, it truly is a glorious new day. Finally, we’re getting this country on the right track.
I’ll admit, when it was announced back in February I took a skeptical view of the President’s Advanced Energy Initiative, of which the Solar America Initiative (SAI) is a part. But now it looks like the White House has taken heed of the CFR’s call to invest heavily, and broadly, in the R&D side of solar.
Last week, Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman announced the selection of 13 joint R&D projects with various partners in the solar industry, for a total commitment of $168 million through 2009.
The teams will be led by industry partners, who will foot more than half the bill, so the total funding will be more like $357 million over the next three years.
That ain’t chump change! (Of course it is chump change. US share is 3 hours of Iraq over the next 3 years. BP gave Cal and UI 500M all by themselves. Chump change, Uncle Sam)
The partnerships involve more than 50 companies, including all of the big-name players, plus 14 universities, three non-profit organizations, and two national laboratories . . . a regular solar rodeo.
energyandcapital.com |
