Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said a program he helped create within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is key to addressing the nation's energy challenges.

Speaking before the inaugural "ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit", Bingaman said DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) holds the potential to restore America's leadership in science and technology research and thus help meet the country's longer-term energy challenges.  ARPA-E, which was established through the America COMPETES Act of 2007 that Bingaman, Senator Lamar Alexander and then-Senator Pete Domenici wrote, aims to promote and fund the research and development of advanced energy technologies such as advanced batteries, solar cells and biofuels.

"If the United States is to have a brighter economic future, we must be the world's innovation leader.  That means we must begin to invest today.  I see ARPA-E as having an exceptional opportunity to ensure that the United States remains at the forefront of this crucial sector, and I look forward to working with DOE to meet that challenge," Bingaman said.

Bingaman applauded the organizations quick action to begin their mission and has said they have already shown success by evaluating 3700 proposals within a period of 4 months, and selecting 37 to share a total of $150 million in support.

Bingaman also said he was pleased that the Obama Administration recognized the importance of this long-term goal and allocated $400 million in economic recovery funding to initiate ARPA-E programs and has proposed an additional $300 million in FY 2011 funding for the program.

The conference was hosted by DOE and participants included members of the scientific and research communities, investors, technology entrepreneurs, companies with an interest in clean energy technologies, policymakers and government officials.  New Mexico participants included: CPFD Software; Emcore Corporation; Emcore Photovoltaics; Incitor Inc.; Innovation Magazine; LAVM LLC.; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Sandia National Laboratory; Schafer Corp., and ThermoDynamic Films.