Subcommittee Examines the Effectiveness of the DOE’s BES Program in Advancing Energy Technologies
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Science and Technology Committee’s Energy and Environment Subcommittee held a hearing to review the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s Basic Energy Science program (BES program). Specifically, the hearing focused on major light and neutron source facilities and recent initiatives to advance research for specific energy application, such as photochemistry for more efficient solar cells. Subcommittee Members questioned witnesses regarding the BES program’s coordination with the applied energy research programs at DOE.
“The Basic Energy Sciences program covers a wide range of fundamental research that supports our efforts to achieve major advancements in energy technologies. Basic research in materials science, physics, and chemistry will enable us to make cheaper, more efficient solar cells; long-lasting batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles; and high-temperature superconductors that would dramatically reduce energy losses on the electric grid,” stated Subcommittee Chairman Nick Lampson (D-TX). “And these are just a few examples.”
The BES program supports fundamental research in physics, chemistry, materials science, and engineering with an emphasis on energy applications. BES is the largest program within the DOE’s Office of Science with a budget of $1.28 billion in FY08. The broad portfolio of basic research that the BES program conducts provides essential knowledge which will foster the next generation of energy technologies.
A major role of the BES program is to supervise several large-scale facilities at various national laboratories across the country. These national facilities house unique instruments that are crucial to the advancement of basic energy sciences research.
“The major research facilities built and managed by the BES program are real jewels of our national research infrastructure,” said Lampson. “They are utilized by over 9,000 people each year including professors and students from universities across the country, as well as researchers from companies that manufacture a wide range of products from power generation equipment and appliances to pharmaceuticals. There is high demand for use of these unique facilities and the research opportunities they provide.”
Greater knowledge of chemical reactions at the atomic level and improved characterization of materials at a molecular level are necessary to significantly improve energy efficiency and develop new sources of energy.
“The Basic Energy Sciences program is a critical component in our energy research and development portfolio. Therefore, we want to ensure that important discoveries at BES move on to be incorporated into new energy applications,” added Lampson.
For more information on this hearing, including witness testimony, visit the Committee’s website.
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