Thank you, Ed.  It’s a pleasure to be part of this terrific event—and it’s my privilege to welcome you all to the Department of Energy.

I want to congratulate all of the Challenge X participants and thank you for your hard work and dedication to this program.

I’d also like to recognize all those folks who helped the student teams get to this point, especially the faculty advisors and university administrators who are here.  You all have been instrumental in cultivating the intellectual rigor and scientific curiosity that this nation needs on its university campuses—and I thank you for your commitment.

And of course I’d like to thank our major Challenge X co-sponsors—Beth Lowry and the Executive Team at General Motors; Ambassador Wilson and the Government of Canada—specifically Natural Resources Canada, our Canadian counterpart; and the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory—especially Don Hillebrand and his team—for their leadership and commitment to this competition’s success.  Over 30 additional supporting sponsors—many of whom are here with us today—have made this competition a reality through their dedication and expertise.

Events like this are one of the best parts of my job—because they give us the opportunity to demonstrate to the American public the tremendous technological advancements that are occurring at universities across this nation.  Advancements that are helping us achieve a new energy future—one that is cleaner, more sustainable, more affordable, more secure and less reliant on carbon-based fossil fuels.

While there is no “silver bullet” that will solve our world’s energy challenges, it is absolutely clear that increasing the fuel efficiency of our global transportation sector is a critical component of any solution.  Improving the efficiency of our vehicles—while also substantially reducing their greenhouse gas emissions—will have a major impact on both our global energy security and our environmental health.

Recognizing this, President Bush has set national goals of making cellulosic biofuels cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012, and reducing America’s gasoline consumption by 20% within a decade.  This has the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions at the tailpipe by up to 85%, thereby significantly reducing carbon emissions from our transportation sector.

And these Challenge X teams are helping us meet these goals by accelerating the development and demonstration of a range of advanced vehicle technologies—including hydrogen fuel cells, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and hybrids that run on a variety of fuels like ethanol (E85) and biodiesel (B20).

They have utilized state-of-the-art battery technologies as well as other features such as regenerative braking and engine transient smoothing to improve efficiency and driveability.

Through your hard work, you have not just helped to demonstrate the value of these technological improvements— to enhance fuel efficiency and emission reductions—you have also learned critically important technical skills.  Skills that are increasingly important for our nation’s energy security and economic competitiveness.  And this is, perhaps, the most important legacy of Challenge X.

It is a point that I would make to you in the strongest possible terms: if we are to maintain this nation’s economic preeminence—and materially improve our energy security—we must invest in preparing and equipping the next generation of scientists and engineers for our industries, our universities and our government laboratories.

President Bush understands this, of course.  Two years ago, he proposed the American Competitiveness Initiative, which included dramatic increases in federal funding for basic research, particularly in the physical sciences.  Among other things, the President called for doubling the budget of the Energy Department’s Office of Science over ten years.

In 2007, Congress passed legislation that supported this doubling goal, and the President signed it.  But quite unfortunately, Congress has not chosen to fully fund it.  And this means lost opportunities for our nation.  And so I strongly encourage the Congress to fully fund the science request next year and get us on track for a doubling of resources.

Because in all areas—from developing and deploying renewable energy technologies to producing conventional fossil fuels more cleanly to increasing our energy efficiency—our basic research efforts are absolutely crucial.  And they are the building blocks, if you will, of our future energy security.

What I am saying is this: we will continue to depend on the power of science and engineering to push back the boundaries of what is possible.  And from where I sit, the stakes could not be higher.  We are quite literally at the center of an historic effort to make our energy supplies cleaner, more diverse, more affordable and more secure.

Getting there will not be easy—this is hard work—but, together, I believe we will do it.  Events like this one reaffirm my tremendous faith in this country, in our scientists and engineers, and in our ability to come together, to innovate and to lead—and I thank you all for being part of that effort.

Location:
DOE Headquarters, Washington, DC

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Jennifer Scoggins (202) 586-4940