Meeting Information

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies

April 18, 2007
American Center for Physics
College Park, MD

Sam Baldwin, U.S. Department of Energy

Abstract

Concerns about oil security and climate change have greatly increased interest in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Energy efficiency technologies are already making a major contribution to the U.S., and research now underway in technologies as diverse as white light LEDs, thermoelectrics, advanced engines, energy storage, hydrogen energy systems, and others offer the opportunity to significantly impact U.S. and global energy consumption.

Research on biofuels, geothermal energy, photovoltaics, solar thermal electric, and wind energy technologies has also advanced greatly and these technologies now offer the potential to supply large amounts of energy. Together, these R&D activities, from basic science through applied engineering, have the potential to redefine U.S. and global energy use.

Biography

Sam Baldwin received B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) degrees in Physics and in Mathematics in 1974 from the University of Oregon, and M.Sc. (1976) and PhD. (1980) degrees in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park. His work focused on coulomb- and phonon-mediated electron-electron interactions in subband excitons in Bismuth.

In 1981, he served in the office of Senator Paul Tsongas as an APS Congressional Scientist Fellow. During 1982-1983, he was the technical director of an eight-country energy program in West Africa, based in Burkina Faso. In 1984, he worked on the Senate Government Affairs Committee for Sen. John Glenn. From 1985-1988 he was a Hewlett Fellow on the research faculty at Princeton University, and during 1988-1995 he was a senior analyst at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.

In 1995, he became the technical director for international programs for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and from 1997-2000 he was on detail to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he was the Executive Study Director for two major energy studies by the Presidents Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, among other activities.

In 2000, he became the Chief Technology Officer for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at USDOE. He is the author or coauthor of 9 books and monographs, and more than 30 papers and technical reports on physics, energy technology and policy, and other issues.