Bank of America executives with Sally Benson at announcement

An abandoned mine provides clues about CO2 sequestration

Gro Brundtland discussed "Our Common Future" at the GCEP Symposium

Founding GCEP Director Lynn Orr nominated for key DOE post

From the Director

I would like to welcome Bank of America, our newest corporate sponsor. We are absolutely delighted they decided to join us on the journey to develop affordable low-carbon energy solutions. With its commitment to sustainable energy, knowledge of global energy markets and expertise in financing businesses focused on low-carbon solutions, Bank of America is contributing a valuable new perspective to GCEP.

In this newsletter, we would like to share with you the latest GCEP news, including:

• Discoveries from an abandoned mineral mine near campus that provide scientists with new clues about CO2 sequestration;
• A breakthrough in lignin research that could make biofuel production more efficient; and
• How a GCEP technical representative creates a critical link between the academic and corporate worlds.

We would also like to highlight our 2013 GCEP Research Symposium, which had a fantastic group of speakers, including these keynote speakers:

• Gro Brundtland, vice chair of the United Nations Foundation and former prime minister of Norway, shared candid insights about the best way forward to mitigate climate change;
• Richard Swanson, co-founder and former CEO of SunPower, talked about valuable lessons learned from his company's roller coaster ride to commercial success; and
• JB Straubel, co-founder and CTO of Tesla Motors, and Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner at Technology Partners, provided their perspectives on Tesla's journey from early-stage concept to top-selling electric vehicle.

If you missed the Symposium, videos of these talks, as well as technical presentations, Energy 101 tutorials, distinguished student lectures and a panel discussion on affordable energy services in rural India are available on the GCEP Symposium website. Please share them with your friends and co-workers!

And finally, congratulations to my colleague and friend, Lynn Orr. The founding director of GCEP and director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford has been nominated by President Obama to serve as under secretary for science at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Wishing you all the very best this holiday season and in the New Year!

Sally M. Benson, Director Global Climate and Energy Project

• Hongjie Dai and team create a low-cost, long-lasting water splitter made of silicon and nickel
• GCEP study shows how water dissolves stone, molecule by molecule
• Thomas Jaramillo honored with 2013 Energy & Environmental Science award
• Sally Benson on NPR's 'All Things Considered': Slashing fossil fuel consumption comes with a price
• Symposium: Richard Swanson describes the challenge of getting renewable technologies to market
• Shanhui Fan develops heat-resistant materials that could vastly improve solar cell efficiency
• GCEP researchers calculate the energy required to store wind and solar power on the grid
• Chris Field quoted in New York Times about U.N. panel's warning on climate change
• Zhenan Bao and her research team use DNA to assemble a transistor from graphene