BATAVIA - Not deterred by Solyndra or any other expensive green energy debacles, Argonne National Laboratory will be one of the next green investments federal taxpayers will fund. The Energy Department is giving Argonne the task of designing a smaller, more durable and dependable battery for hybrid vehicles. Congress has already approved $20 million, with an additional $100 million promised over the next four years. The state of Illinois also is supposed to help financially.
US Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and US Rep Judy Biggert are credited with obtaining the funding, along with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and IL Governor Pat Quinn.
It's all about meeting America's energy goals, Durbin said this past summer.
“In order to meet our energy goals – putting one million electric hybrid vehicles on the road and producing 25 percent of all electricity from solar and wind by 2015 – the U.S. must invest in the type of large-scale innovative research that will produce major breakthroughs in energy storage technology,” Crain's Business quoted Durbin saying in a statement last July after meeting with Energy Secretary Steven Chu about the proposal. “Argonne National Laboratory, as a center for world-class research and innovation, has created a partnership that brings together the expertise and the tools needed to accomplish these goals. I urge the Department of Energy to bring this electric battery hub to our state.”
Winning the battery research center was a top priority for Argonne, and it lead to a full-court press by Sen. Durbin as well as Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale, who lost her bid for re-election this year. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn also pushed hard for the project.
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20121129/NEWS02/121129807/argonne-wins-manhattan-project-for-car-batteries#ixzz2DcqPQztD
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