Energy, Climate Change,
and Our Environment

The President has taken unprecedented action to build the foundation for a clean energy economy, tackle the issue of climate change, and protect our environment.

Energy and Environment Latest News

  • Under Secretary of Energy Kristina Johnson Receives Women of Vision Award

    Posted by Saba Abebe on May 12, 2010 at 4:05 PM EDT

    Today, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology will recognize Under Secretary Kristina Johnson with their Women of Vision Leadership Award. The Institute, which was founded in 1997 by renowned computer scientist Anita Borg, gives the award each year to a woman who "has led an important technology development or innovation, made a significant contribution to the technology industry, and someone who inspires others." Learn more about the Anita Borg Institute by visiting their website.

    This won't be the first time Under Secretary Johnson is recognized for her leadership in the scientific community. In 2008, she became the first woman to receive the John Fritz Medal, the highest award in engineering. Under Secretary Johnson has 45 U.S. patents and patents pending (129 internationally), and her work with smart pixel arrays distinguished her as a leader in the field of optics.

    Ground-breaking physicist Marie Curie once said, "You cannot help to build a better world without improving the individuals." Under Secretary Johnson has certainly embodied this ideal by nurturing the next generation of scientists and engineers during her years in academia. She recognized early on that women and minorities were vastly under-represented in the fields of science and engineering, and as Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University, she helped triple the number of women faculty.

    Under Secretary Johnson's focus on education has carried over to her work at the Department of Energy. She was a champion of the Administration's new RE-Energyse program -- or Regaining our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge -- whose mission is to work with the National Science Foundation to empower young women and men to pursue careers in science and engineering. Learn more about Under Secretary Johnson's work by reading her bio.

    Thanks to role models such as Under Secretary Johnson and dedicated organizations like the Anita Borg Institute, women have more than doubled their participation among U.S. science and engineering graduates over the last three decades. We look forward to building on this momentum in the months and years to come.

    Saba Abebe is a Special Assistant at the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the Department of Energy (DOE) and represents DOE on the White House Council on Women and Girls

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  • A Success Story from the Clean Energy Economy

    Posted by Secretary Steven Chu on May 7, 2010 at 4:23 PM EDT

    I’m in Georgia today to deliver the commencement address at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and I just finished a tour of the University Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics (UCEP).

    With longstanding support from the Department of Energy, and under the direction of Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi , this Center at Georgia Tech has become a premier site for silicon PV research in the U.S.  The company that evolved from this work – Suniva – is an American success story.

    Suniva has created more than 150 clean energy jobs manufacturing high-efficiency silicon solar cells and modules, using technology developed at UCEP.  Fifty of those jobs are the direct result of a clean energy tax credit that was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

    America pioneered solar PV technology, and, as recently as the mid-1990s we had about 45 percent of the world market share, but we have let that lead slip away.  Today, we have only about 5 percent of the world market.  The U.S. needs to jump back into the clean energy race and play to win.  That is the work we have started with investments like the Recovery Act and companies like Suniva.   In fact, last year, Suniva exported more than 90 percent of its product to Asia and Europe.

    This center and this company are powerful examples of how clean energy technology can drive job creation in the U.S. and increase our competitiveness.

    Steven Chu is the Secretary of Energy

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  • Advancing Energy Innovation through Cross-Sector Partnerships

    Posted by Dr. Kristina Johnson on May 7, 2010 at 8:00 AM EDT

    Ed Note: Starting at 9 AM EDT the Energy Innovations Summit will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

    Throughout our history, American innovation has driven economic growth and helped solve the great challenges that confront us.  One of the greatest challenges of the modern era is transforming the ways we produce and consume energy. Not surprisingly, technology is the key enabler of that transformation. As President Obama has said, “No area is more ripe for such innovation than energy.”

    Today, leaders from the private sector, nonprofits and government are gathering at an Energy Innovation Conference at the White House to discuss how they can work together to accelerate energy innovation, and support entrepreneurs and small businesses in the energy sector. 

    As part of that effort, Small Business Administrator Karen Mills and I are announcing a partnership between the SBA and the Department of Energy to encourage investments in small businesses that are focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

    Small businesses have long been key contributors to America’s energy sector. Where larger firms and corporations provide the heft to help energy technologies reach global markets, small businesses thrive at the other end of the spectrum, in the innovation of new energy products and services. They’re quicker to adopt new approaches, and more willing to take on technology challenges. Given that, it is little surprise that small businesses create 13 times more patents per employee than their corporate counterparts.

    Yet even when a company has a great idea, commercial success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to transition all the way from idea to product.  The challenge is one of staying power, or ensuring that small businesses have the resources to graduate to each stage in the development process—from idea to marketplace.

    Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to ensuring that small businesses are empowered to stay in the game long enough to help solve our energy challenges, and, in the process, jumpstart a thriving, private market for energy innovation.
     
    But that’s not all. By promoting scientific discovery and technological innovation, we can make America the leader in the global marketplace for clean energy technology, create thousands of new jobs, and strengthen the health of our planet with a more responsible, sustainable approach to energy.  Following today’s conference, we will be announcing a series of regional follow-on meetings in order to continue this dialogue in communities across the nation

    Dr. Kristina Johnson is Under Secretary of Energy.
     

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  • West Wing Week: "X.Y.Z."

    Posted by mblaustein on May 7, 2010 at 12:00 AM EDT

    Thanks for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, walk step-by-step with the President as he monitors and then visits areas affected by the BP Oil Rig incident, delivers a commencement address at University of Michigan, attends the White House Correspondents Dinner, presents the Commander-in-Chief trophy to the Navy Midshipman, ushers in Cinco de Mayo and much more.

    Friday, April 30th

    Saturday, May 1st

    Sunday, May 2nd

    Monday, May 3rd

    Tuesday, May 4th

    Wednesday, May 5th

    Thursday, May 6th

    Previous Installments

    Arun Chaudhary is the official White House videographer

    Learn more about Deepwater BP Oil Spill, Defense, Disabilities, Economy, Energy and Environment, Fiscal Responsibility, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Veterans

  • New York City Students Get Down and Dirty for National Lab Day

    Posted by Beth Noveck on May 6, 2010 at 9:48 AM EDT

    With a major water main break in Boston and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the news these days, it is obvious how much our country needs well-trained chemical engineers with expertise in pollution prevention and treatment. Professor Benjamin Davis of The Cooper Union College is just such an expert. He had been looking for a way to teach young people the field he loves so that they, too, might know about and choose chemical engineering as a college and career option.

    Thanks to an article in the newspaper, he came across a link for National Lab Day—a nationwide initiative to foster collaborations among volunteers, students, and educators—and signed up. Yesterday, at the East Side Community High School on the lower east side of Manhattan, Professor Davis taught 10th graders (as well as this U.S. Deputy CTO) how waste water is treated on an industrial scale. In keeping with the basic tenet of National Lab Day, this wasn't just a lecture. It was a hands-on experiment through which we learned how to clean and purify "contaminated" water—namely 100 ml of tap water that the good Professor had mixed with 18 g of dirt, 10 g of flour, 2 ml of salad dressing, and some dish soap that science teacher Joe Vicente had provided for the experiment.

    This get-your-hands-dirty experiment can be traced in part back to last November, when the President launched the "Educate to Innovate" campaign to motivate and inspire students to excel in science, technology, engineering, and math. At that White House event, he announced the launch of National Lab Day and challenged Americans to get involved in a historic grassroots effort to bring hands-on learning to students by upgrading science labs, supporting project-based learning, and building communities of support for STEM teachers.

    Since its launch the effort has quickly gained momentum, with National Lab Day projects now scheduled in every state, involving over 1,500 schools already and over 200 science and engineering societies and organizations representing millions of potential volunteers. National Lab Day matches volunteers with schools and teachers to coordinate face-to-face learning opportunities. New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who attended today's event, complimented the innovative approach of National Lab Day, which brings knowledgeable experts into America's middle and high schools to get kids interested science.

    "Yo-Yo Ma is in New York today and he can visit five schools," Klein remarked. "But a program like National Lab Day can put a ‘Yo-Yo Ma’ of science and technology in every classroom." And you never know what these match-ups will lead to, he added. "I had a physics teacher in high school who helped me get a science grant that let me go to college."

    And although Yo-Yo Ma was not part of today’s water treatment experiment, TV stars Tim Daly and Andrea Bowen turned up to add some chemistry to the chemistry. And of course, there was pizza.

    May 12th is the official National Lab Day kick-off, but National Lab Day isn't just a single day. It's an ongoing, year-round, grassroots effort in participatory citizenship designed to encourage young people, as President Obama has said, "to be makers of things, not just consumers of things."

    Nat Lab Day

    Students at East Side Community High School in New York learn how to clean up dirty water as part of a National Lab Day experience. (Photos by Beth Noveck)

    Nat Lab Day 1

    Beth Noveck is U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer

    Learn more about Education, Energy and Environment, Technology

  • Streaming Live at 2:30: Clean Energy Economy Forum with Secretary Vilsack

    Posted by Katelyn Sabochik on May 5, 2010 at 1:15 PM EDT

    From 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM EDT we’ll be streaming the Clean Energy Economy Forum with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on WhiteHouse.gov/live.  Today’s forum is focused on bio-energy and energy opportunities for rural economic development.  We’ll be taking questions from the online audience during both panels, so drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter.

    Learn more about Economy, Energy and Environment