"Game Changers" explores a cheaper, cleaner, and more secure national energy system

The Hoover Institution and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative (MITEI) released on June 17 the product of a multiyear collaboration: "Game Changers: Energy on the Move." The book, which highlights the historic and current effects of five research and development efforts from U.S. universities, stresses the importance of sustained support for basic energy research and development if the United States is to meet its goal of a cheaper, cleaner, and more secure national energy system.
 
“It is imperative that we explore new ways, ‘game changers,’ to produce and use energy that are focused on national security, economic well-being, and an improved environment," says former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, an editor and distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution. "Our country is at pivotal moment, and we are left with no choice but to identify reliable and inexpensive energy to propel our economy and protect our national security interests.”
 
Drawing from the efforts of Stanford University, MIT, and other leading university research centers, the book describes innovations that are transforming our energy landscape and how these innovations, now vital to our national energy economy, had their roots in previous university-based basic scientific research: natural gas from shale, solar photovoltaics, grid-scale electricity storage, electric cars, and LED lighting.
 
“We’re on the right track with the very significant energy research efforts under way in our research universities, but the key is to continue to innovate because without this forward thinking, we will stagnate and fall short of the challenging goals ahead,” concludes Robert Armstrong, an editor and director of MITEI.
 
For each innovation, the authors detail the fruits of individual research and development projects that are available today, near at hand, or on the horizon. They also show how extreme energy reliability and performance demands have put the U.S. military in the lead at driving energy innovations by surveying potentially game-changing energy technologies being used by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force on bases and in forward deployments.
 
The more choices our laboratories put on the table, the more we are able to safeguard the things we really care about — our health, families, businesses, culture, faith, and happiness — which is what "Game Changers" is ultimately about.
 
For more information on Game Changers, visit http://www.energygamechangers.org.