A year after it first received funding, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) got high marks from the congressional committee that spearheaded its creation in its "first annual checkup." In a hearing of the House committee on Science and Technology, the new agency, which is designed to promote the research, development and commercialization off "game-changing" energy technologies, received praise for quickly sorting through 3,700 applications to make 37 awards in its first round of funding. It also fine-tuned its awards process, with the second round of funding going into specific areas of research identified in a series of workshops. Some of the projects that ARPA-E funded have since attracted private support.

The agency's fate, however, remains unclear. It's funding so far has come from last year's stimulus package, not the regular budget, and Congress denied its request for funds for the current fiscal year. The President's 2011 budget includes nearly $300 million for the agency, but at a time when Congress is facing pressure to cut spending, that money might not make to the final budget.

John Garamendi (D-CA), noted that President Obama wants a freeze on discretionary spending. In order to do that, while also adding new funding for ARPA-E to the budget, Congress will have to cut funding or subsidies elsewhere. Garamandi has his sights set on the oil industry. "We're spending 10 to 15 billion dollars a year subsidizing an extraordinary industry, the oil industry. We've done if for a century. Why in the world are we continuing to do that?"

One concern raised by several of the committee members was whether ARPA-E's efforts will lead to American jobs. Brian Baird (D-WA), noted that technologies such as advanced batteries, which were invented in the United States, have been "exported" and are now being designed and produced in other countries.

John Denniston, a partner from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers who testified before the committee, emphasized that the first step is promoting innovation through ARPA-E--and argued that jobs would follow. "First things first. Let's get the breakthroughs," he said. Denniston also warned that putting restrictions on the use of the technologies once they are produced--such as not allowing them to be produced overseas--would hurt entrepreneurs, since it could lead other countries to restrict technology flowing into the United States.

The cost of solar power could be cut 30 percent without improving the performance of individual solar cells, says Daniel Alcombright, vice president for North America at Solon Corporation, based in Berlin.

At the ReTech 2010 conference in Washington, DC, last week, Alcombright laid out his company's plans for cutting costs and increasing power output, which will result in lower costs per kilowatt hour over the lifetime of solar panels, making it more competitive with conventional sources of electricity.

About half of the cost of solar power comes from the cost of the solar panel itself. The rest comes from installation costs, the costs of electronics for converting DC to AC for the grid, and other things like the cost of land and maintenance.

When Alcombright was first hired at Solon a few months ago, the company sent him to a solar installation project, to give him an idea of how things went. He saw plenty of ways things could be improved. For example, highly-paid electricians spend hours constructing assemblies for conduits, when such things could be built for less in a factory. Solon is working on fixing this, and making other changes: Larger solar modules with quick mount frames could also reduce overall construction costs. So could standardized plans for solar farms, so that each new project doesn't have to be engineered anew. Finally, low cost tracking systems and software for optimizing their performance in different locations and from season to season could increase power output from the same solar panels.

These sorts of inefficiencies are evidence of an industry that's still in its infancy--but they also suggest there's a lot that can be done to make solar cheaper, even without major advances in solar cell efficiency.

Every year we canvass top researchers, companies, and venture capitalists to find the most interesting young innovators for our TR 35 awards (35 innovators under the age of 35). But based on the Technology Review readers I've met at various meetings and conferences, I know many of you are personally involved with some of the most interesting innovation out there. So this year I'm also taking my plea directly to you.

Who do you know who deserves this award? If you think of anyone, send me an email (bull_kev at yahoo.com) with a name, contact info, and a sentence or two describing the person's accomplishments.