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News and updates

Dr. Franklin Orr Sworn in as Under Secretary for Science & Energy

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Dr. Franklin (Lynn) M. Orr was sworn in as the Under Secretary for Science and Energy on December 17, 2014.

As the Under Secretary, Dr. Orr is the principal advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on clean energy technologies and science and energy research initiatives. Dr. Orr is the inaugural Under Secretary for the office, which was created by Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to closely integrate DOE’s basic science, applied research, technology development, and deployment efforts. As Under Secretary, he oversees DOE’s offices of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy, Indian Energy Policy and Programs, Nuclear Energy, and Science.  In total, these programs steward the majority of DOE’s National Laboratories (13 of 17).

Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Orr was the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor Emeritus in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. He joined Stanford in 1985.  He served as the founding director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University from 2009 to 2013.  He was the founding director of the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project from 2002 to 2008, and he served as Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford from 1994 to 2002.  He was head of the miscible flooding section at the New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology from 1978 to 1985, a research engineer at the Shell Development Company Bellaire Research Center from 1976 to 1978, and assistant to the director, Office of Federal Activities, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1970 to 1972. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. from Stanford University, both in Chemical Engineering.

Dr. Orr is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute from 1987 to 2014, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation from 1999 to 2008, for which he has also chaired the Science Advisory Panel for the Packard Fellowships in Science and Engineering from 1988 to 2014.  He served as a member of the 2008/09 National Research Council Committee on America’s Energy Future.

FrankOrr

Senate Passes FY15 Appropriations

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In a very rare weekend session, the Senate voted 56-40 late Saturday evening to pass the FY15 $1.1 trillion spending package that funds most of the government through next September. As previously discussed in this blog, the package includes 11 appropriations bills that fund most of the government through Sept. 30 and a continuing resolution (CR) funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Feb. 27.

The bill nearly died in the House earlier last week after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a rising star among her party’s liberal base, urged House Democrats to oppose it. Regardless, the package narrowly passed the House on Thursday night in a 219-206 vote after Obama hit the phones to quell a Democratic uprising against it.

Notable Senators voting against the legislation include several Republican and Democratic senators rumored to have presidential ambitions such as Rand Paul (R-KY), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

The vote culminates a week of acrimonious posturing in both the House and Senate and sends the spending bill to President Obama’s desk for a signature.

The House has recessed for the year and the Senate is expect to recess this week. Both bodies of Congress will reconvene in January 2015 to swear in the new 114th Congress.

‘Cromnibus’ Advances to the Senate

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The House yesterday approved the FY2015 ‘cromnibus’ bill funding all areas of federal government through September 30, 2015 except for Homeland Security, which is subject to a continuing resolution (CR) through February 2, 2015. The House vote as close – 219 to 206 – and delayed several hours as GOP leaders worked their members to support the massive $1.1 billion year-end spending package.

The House and Senate also both passed a two-day stopgap spending measure to avoid a government shutdown, as the current CR was set to expire midnight Thursday. The Senate will take at least a day to process and vote on the so-called cromnibus before sending it to the President, who has said he will sign it into law. That vote could come as early as this afternoon but could also stretch into early next week. If that happens, another short-term CR will be necessary.

The fiscal 2014 and 2015 omnibuses were largely a result of the 2013 budget deal that set domestic and defense spending caps and created the sequester if Congress did not adhere to those caps. No similar deal is in place for next year, and a GOP-controlled Congress will have less incentive to make such a deal with Democrats.

White House Announces New Manufacturing Innovation Hubs Competition

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Today, the President announced nearly $290 million in public-private investment for two new Manufacturing Innovation Hub Competitions. The two New Manufacturing Innovation Hub Competitions will consist of two competitions for manufacturing innovation institutes today—one in smart manufacturing at the Department of Energy and one in flexible hybrid electronics at the Department of Defense. Each institute will receive $70 million or more of federal investment to be matched by at least $70 million from the private sector for a total of more than $290 million in new investment.

  • The Department of Defense will lead a competition for a new public-private manufacturing innovation institute in flexible hybrid electronics. Flexible hybrid electronics combine advanced materials that flex with thinned silicon chips to produce the next generation of electronic products seamlessly integrated into the things around us.  These include items as diverse as comfortable, wireless medical monitors, stretchable electronics for robotics and vehicles, and smart bridges capable of alerting engineers at the first signs of trouble. For the nation’s warfighters, these new technologies will make lifesaving advances and improve mission effectiveness. For example, intelligent bandages and smart clothing will alert soldiers to first signs of injury or exhaustion; structural integrity sensors will offer real-time damage assessment for helicopters or aircraft after engagement; and small, unattended sensors will give soldiers greater situational awareness.
  • The Department of Energy will lead a competition for a new public-private manufacturing innovation institute focused on smart manufacturing, including advanced sensors, control, platforms, and models for manufacturing.  By combining manufacturing, digital, and energy efficiency expertise, technologies developed by the institute will give American manufacturers unprecedented, real-time control of energy use across factories and companies to increase productivity and save on energy costs. For energy intensive industries – like chemical production, solar cell manufacturing, and steelmaking – these technologies can shave 10-20% off the cost of production.  The new institute will receive a federal investment of $70 million that will be matched by at least $70 million in private investments and represents a critical step in the Administration’s effort to double U.S. energy efficiency by 2030.

More information on the manufacturing innovation institute competitions is at Manufacturing.gov.