Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > Announcement: Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion

Announcement: Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion
April 21, 2008

The University of Colorado at Boulder is enormously proud of the breadth and scope of the ongoing research being conducted under the auspices of the CU Energy Initiative and we're pleased to be major players in the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory.

Our involvement in the collaboratory's second formal center, the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP), further underscores the commitment we have made toward providing leadership in the development of future solar technologies.

This center, which will focus on "basic research," will help to lay the foundation for the development of future solar technologies. As a mechanical engineer whose first job was the design of coal-fired steam-generation power plants, I fully recognize the importance of this endeavor.

I would like to thank CRSP scientific director Dr. Arthur Nozik for his leadership in the formation of this center and for his many contributions as professor adjoint in CU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. I also would like to acknowledge CRSP Managing Director Paul Nelson, who is a graduate student in CU-Boulder's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

CU together with our collaboratory partners—CSU, Mines and NREL—is looking forward to hosting a Department of Energy Office of Science-sponsored workshop on "High Efficiency Conversion of Solar Energy to Electricity and Fuels" in August. This workshop will undoubtedly be of great interest to current and future CRSP sponsoring companies and will be a tremendous educational opportunity for students, postdocs and faculty in Colorado.

When you are near the end of a long list of speakers it is not clear what one might add that can be of value, but let me talk for a moment about why this is important. The legacy of what we leave our children will require that we not only advance the science of energy production, sustainability and the reduction of the carbon footprint of our society, but also that we find ways to heal the "damaged spacecraft" we call earth.

Under the leadership of the CU Energy Initiative and the marked success of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, we have an opportunity to take a national leadership role in developing the future of the nation's "energy economy." I want to thank Gov. Bill Ritter, our Colorado congressional delegation and the state legislature for being so supportive of this crucial work that is so important to us, but more importantly to our children.