SunShot Shoots for the Moon with First Grand Challenge Event

By Ramamoorthy Ramesh, director SunShot Initiative & Solar Energy Technologies Program

About two years ago, my good friend Arun Majumdar, director of ARPA-E, coined the term "SunShot" in one of our meetings. We decided then that all of the solar program efforts going forward would focus on the common goal of making solar electricity cost-competitive by the end of the decade. Such a goal was incredibly ambitious, so it was fitting that the initiative’s name would be inspired by President Kennedy’s "moon shot" speech that launched NASA's effort to put a man on the moon.

We have been doing everything in our power to reduce energy costs for consumers and to ensure that American innovators and companies can lead the global transition to a clean energy economy. As the price of solar panels has decreased, the solar energy industry in the United States has exploded. Solar installations doubled from 2009 to 2010, and the domestic market grew to $6 billion in 2010.

We now know that SunShot goals are within our reach. By tapping into the best and brightest minds in science, industry, and academia, we are already making progress. The SunShot Initiative is funding more than 250 projects that explore every possible way to drive down the cost of solar, from developing an efficient solar cell that’s as thin as a human hair to creating a GIS-based tool that can perform site assessments from space. But there is much work left to do.

The SunShot Grand Challenge: Summit and Technology Forum next month will give us the opportunity to highlight the progress of the past two years and reassess the challenges that must be overcome in order to reach the 2020 goal. We are inviting everyone who is contributing to this effort to join us at what promises to be an exciting event June 13–14 in Denver, Colorado. For the rest of the story, read the complete Energy Blog.

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New York crude oil price shoots back over $100 A barrel

Singapore (AFP)-New York's benchmark crude oil futures contract back over $100 a barrel in Asian trading as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa shot still the markets rattle.

The contract for April delivery, known as West Texas intermediate (WTI), rose 63 cents to $100.26. The Treaty reached all-time high of more than $147 per barrel in 2008.

Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in April was up 70 cents to $116.12.

"Clearly everyone is concerned" about the turbulence in the Arab world, said John Vautrain, Vice President of Purvin and Gertz international energy consultant in Singapore.

He said investors were concerned about unrest sweep oil producing countries and deliveries to disrupt.

Oil prices have been soaring, after which followed by longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak crashed popular uprisings of the Guide Tunisia in January, from Egypt in February.

Libyan leader of Gaddafi Moamer's now for his political life as a rebellion against his rule spread fighting, during protests elsewhere in the region are oil-rich rocking, including Yemen and Oman.

Western powers on Tuesday whether military action was a viable option against Gaddafi's as a leader of uprising increasingly fearful of counter strikes grew weighed by the Libyan strongman loyalists.

While it was in some quarters for support at least the imposition of a no. fly zone could, SR. warned that US officials military action Gaddafi's's departure speed up complicated be and have potentially adverse consequences.

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