The good news about Dr Steven Chu is that he is PRO alternative energy - at least from biofuel and solar- despite his ignorance about BLP and his unfortunate willingness to speak from a position of ignorance on that issue, several years ago.
Is it time to do an about-face? Doesn't matter much, as the reports are that now it is a done-deal. He is definitely genius level and a non-politician, unlike his predecessor, and even more unlike his predecessors going back several iterations- he cannot be bought by Big-oil on the issue of CO2 neutrality and biofuel, even if subsidies are required. His stance on subsidies for wind energy is unknown. His stance on shifting R&D funding from the sink-hole of hot fusion to alternatives in unknown. Not all good, but at least he has the global situation at least half-right instead of all wrong. http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/10/12127/542 A Chinese-American, Chu is a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley and has been the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2004, where he has pushed aggressively for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming. It is the oldest of the Energy Department's national laboratories, but does only unclassified work and in recent years under Chu has been at the center of research into biofuels and solar technologies. Chu has been a strong advocate for the need to engage scientists in the search for ways to combat global warming by replacing fossil fuels with other energy sources such as biofuels and the sun. These officials also say that former New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Lisa Jackson and Mary Nichols, who heads the California Air Resources Board, are in the running for the EPA administrator post. Both women worked at the EPA under Clinton EPA chief Carol Browner, who is leading the energy and environmental policy team for Obama's transition. Browner, who ran the agency for 8 years, is expected to be named to a new position in the Obama White House overseeing energy, environment and climate matters. But officials say there was still some discussion over whether Browner would share her duties with Sutley or another adviser on energy and environmental matters.
