If Physicist Ernest Moniz is confirmed as the next Secretary of the Department of Energy, he will have the opportunity to transform the agency, "if he is willing to reform, restructure, and refocus the organization to put energy innovation at the forefront of its agenda," the authors of a Clean Air Task Force and Energy Innovation Reform Project report wrote in The Hill’s Congress Blog yesterday. The report, "Putting Energy Innovation First," says DOE is currently "hamstrung" by its responsibilities managing the nation’s nuclear weapon stockpile and cleaning up legacy nuclear waste sites, which "demand most of DOE’s budget, and much of its senior leadership’s time and attention," the authors—Armond Cohen, David Garman and Samuel Thernstrom—wrote. In order for the DOE to play a pivotal role in advancing new energy technologies, its leaders must "fundamentally reshape the department in ways that could significantly improve its effectiveness," the report states. Read the report here.
The report recommends creating a more cohesive organizational structure for R&D, as the current method of organizing around discrete technologies with individual fossil, nuclear, renewable and other offices "promotes factionalism," and "inhibits innovation." The report suggests establishing offices for policy, management and administration, energy and science innovation, and advanced research projects. Linking the R&D activities by their uses, rather than their energy sources, and bridging the gap between basic research activities and applied technology challenges is "imperative," the report says.
The report chastises DOE for "relentless micromanagement" of national laboratories, keeping staff there focused on "audits and bureaucratic directives" rather than technology development. "Freeing the labs to focus on outcomes rather than processes could have far-reaching effects," the report suggests. The report also states that DOE should also establish a method of setting objective, long-term strategic goals and evaluating progress. The changes required are "neither simple nor sexy; they will require a determined leader willing to find satisfaction in organizational reform, hardly a headline-making activity," the report’s authors state. But, they suggest that someone with Moniz’s background as former under secretary of energy during the Clinton administration may be just the experienced hand to lead DOE in the right direction.