INNOVATION WANTED, APPLY D.C.

Obama and Energy Chief Push Innovation
Andrew C. Revkin, March 23, 2009 (NY Times)

"Three months ago [The Times] asked, “Are Chemists, Engineers on Green Jobs List?” The answer appears to be yes.

"In a two-pronged push, President Obama and Steven Chu, the secretary of energy and Nobel laureate in physics, [laid out] the administration’s plans to link economic renewal with an energy revolution."

The idea is to turn this around... (click to enlarge)

"Mr. Obama met with energy-technology entrepreneurs and researchers near the White House at an event called “Investing in Our Clean Energy Future.” One highlight is $400 million set aside under the economic-recovery bill for an advanced research agency for energy, Arpa-E, modeled along the lines of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency."

...By getting the federal government to do its share. (click to enlarge)

"On eastern Long Island, Dr. Chu had a somewhat wistful air as he toured projects at Brookhaven National Laboratory…his first stop at a national laboratory since taking his cabinet job…He peppered staff scientists and engineers with questions about physics projects related to the origins of the universe and possible causes of Alzheimer’s disease before being nudged forward by hurried aides. He was there to announce how $1.2 billion in the stimulus bill would be spent on science projects at Brookhaven and elsewhere around the country’s network of 10 national laboratories…"