There’s usually a flurry of speculation before major elections. Similarly, sports finals bring out all kinds of arguing and debating about who will win. Only when the votes are counted and the buzzer sounds does it really matter. In announcing that the U.S. is on track to achieve four major innovation breakthroughs due to Recovery Act investments, the Obama administration has stirred up excitement and stoked the fires of speculation. What will actually be achieved when the buzzer sounds? Well, we’ll have to wait until 2012 and 2015 to find out for sure. Those seem to be the years by which we’ll know whether the breakthroughs have indeed been reached or have sputtered off course. If they remain on track, the four innovations listed below would definitely be impressive headway down the road to sustainability.- Cutting the cost of solar power in half by 2015, putting it on par with the cost of retail electricity from the grid.
- Cutting the cost of batteries for electric vehicles by 70 percent between 2009 and 2015, putting the lifetime cost of an electric vehicle on-par with that of its non-electric counterpart.
- Doubling U.S. renewable energy generation capacity and U.S. renewable manufacturing capacity by 2012, a breakthrough that would not be possible without the Recovery Act.
- Bringing the cost of a personal human genome map to under $1,000 in five years, allowing researchers to sequence 50 human genomes for the same cost as sequencing just one today.
From the release:
“Thanks to investments made possible by the Recovery Act, we are unleashing the American innovation machine to change the way we use and produce energy in this country,” said Secretary Chu. “Just as importantly, these breakthroughs are helping create tens of thousands of new jobs, allowing the U.S. to continue as a leader in the global economy and helping to provide a better future for generations to come.”
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