Energy Secretary Steven Chu Brings Good News for Renewable Energy

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIRANDA GATEWOOD

Newly appointed U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently visited the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) with great tidings for energy and discovery class science. During his first trip to BNL since his inauguration in January, Chu brought news of President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, with the President’s pledge to extend the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit with hopes of making it permanent, and increase the science budget two-fold over the next 10 years, allocating $15 billion per year for the research and development of clean renewable energy.

US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu

Chu announced that the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science will receive $1.2 billion, of which $184.3 million will go to Brookhaven National Laboratory. BNL will use that funding for its National Synchrotron Light Source II. NSLS-II is a new $912 million project which already had DOE approval. NSLS-II is built upon a 1978 initial construction and a “Phase II” expansion that began in 1986, increasing the NSLS by 52,000 square feet.

According to BNL, NSLS-II will provide advanced new tools for discovery class science to enhance national and energy security and help drive abundant, safe, and clean energy technologies. The x-ray brightness and resolution of NSLS-II will be world leading, exceeding that of any other light source currently existing or under construction, and 10,000 times brighter than the present NSLS at BNL. It will enhance the lab’s standing as a world-leading research facility and bring a direct economic benefit to Long Island.

Sam Aronson, director, Brookhaven National Laboratory

After Chu toured BNL’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials, the National Synchrotron Light Source, and the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, he spoke to a capacity crowd at which Congressman Tim Bishop was in attendance. The Energy Secretary reflected on his years at Stanford University and AT&T Bell Laboratories. He was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997 when he was 32 years old. Chu is the first Nobel laureate to serve in a presidential cabinet.

In his presentation, Chu outlined the need to develop better batteries for hybrid vehicles. The Energy Secretary also stressed the importance of developing a combination of solutions for clean, affordable energy, as well as keeping a constant focus on reducing adverse factors influencing climate change. His discussion of biofuels affirmed that select crops grown for fuel need not supplant those for food consumption.

Richard Kessel, president, CEO, New York Power Authority (NYPA)		Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, president, Stony Brook University and Kevin Law, president, CEO, LIPA
Left: Sam Aronson, director, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Kevin Law, president, CEO, LIPA, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Congressman Tim Bishop.

Chu, who was born in Saint Louis, Missouri and grew up on Long Island, earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, as well receiving honorary degrees from 10 other universities. He was former director of Lawrence Berkeley, National Laboratory until his January appointment as U.S.Energy Secretary.