Important Innovations Collection

Hewlett Packard & Oak Ridge National Lab                                                  Source:  NASA One of the World's Most Advanced Weather Forecasting Systems With the back to back, forecast-defying storms we've been getting in North America and elsewhere in the world, the prospect of much more precise weather forecasting is of great appeal.  Hewlett Packard Enterprises just announced that it is helping the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Lab build and utilize a pair of extremely high performance supercomputers to model and forecast the weather with much greater precision.  The system is primarily for the US Air Force's Weather Service for global military operations. Supercomputer Weather Forecasts The supercomputers are operating at the Oak Ridge National Lab and are powered by HP's Cray EX technology....

US Department of Energy's R&D Center Source:  Renewable Energy stock image Transformative Energy Solutions ARPA-E is the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy.  Like the Pentagon's DARPA (Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency), the mission is to take on high risk-high reward projects to develop breakthrough technologies, in this case to improve the US energy mix. Power Plays The ranking GOP member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla) just introduced legislation to increase funding for ARPA-E $24 million annually for the next 5 years, with the funding topping out at $500million in 2024.  In contrast, the Trump Administration wants to close the Department of Energy's tech research hub. The Administration believes that the private sector is better positioned to finance disruptive energy R&D. Transformative Energy Solutions Lucas' bill calls upon ARPA-...