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Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) is hoping that developing green technology and clean energy sources can do for the Tri-Valley what computers did for Silicon Valley.
In a news conference at Las Positas College in Livermore, Garamendi announced he will introduce a bill before congress Tuesday that would create the Livermore Valley Open Campus to allow access to research and technology from Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.
The center would help in the transfer of research from those labs to the private sector, allowing businesses and the public to work with scientists from both labs to commercialize their ideas.
“This legislation will accelerate the movement of technology,” Garamendi said, adding that he could envision every company with an interest in clean energy, from Caterpillar tractors and General Motors coming to the Tri-Valley center.
Flanked by Livermore Lab’s Director George Miller and Rick Stulen, vice president of Sandia Lab, the congressman was clearly enthusiastic about the idea.
“It’s downright exciting to think about a campus right next to these facilities,” Garamendi said. “Think about (bringing business) from Silicon Valley, from IBM to Oracle and on and on.”
He said the campus would bring new jobs to the area as the center grows and that Las Positas would be essential to the growth.
“As the open campus develops, as Lawrence Livermore and Sandia go about their normal hiring, and meeting the needs of this nation’s security and research, people will be needed to fill those jobs,” Garamendi said. “This community college is directly connected to the laboratories and to the businesses in the community, providing the people with skills the labs need.”
The bill was praised by local business and community leaders, including Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti.
“We’re very excited about the Open Campus and what it means for the entire region in terms of economic development and opportunity,” Sbranti said. “This project will benefit us in the same way the Dot Com boom benefited the entire Silicon Valley.”
Garamendi pointed to Ultracell, a local success story as an example of how the center would work. The company developed a fuel cell that provides long-term power and that’s currently being used by the military.
The bill would amend the Atomic Energy Defense Act to allow the Administrator for Nuclear Technology to authorize a transfer center in Livermore.
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Congressman John Garamendi discusses his proposed bill, which would create the Livermore Valley Open Campus to help businesses get access to research being done at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia laboratories. Photo by Glenn Wohltmann. -
Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti praised Garamendi’s proposed bill, saying it could to for the Tri-Valley what dot-coms did for Silicon Valley. Photo by Glenn Wohltmann.
Dear Emily,
Glenn and John need to better understand why the Santa Clara Valley was called Silicon Valley. Silicon as semiconductor wafers are the reference and the result are processors and memory commonly called “chips.” The computers, including the PC and even Apple’s personal computers, were never the primary development or business in the Santa Clara Valley. You will find the computer’s history in New York and Florida.
Second, for years Las Positas College has had programs to train students in the vacuum technologies used in semiconductor and thin film production such as solar PV. American Vacuum Society members, some as LLNL employees, have been instructors for those programs. Many of the graduates from that program are already working in solar PV wafer and panel production in the greater bay area.
It has been common practice for national labs to share technology with such training programs but the key national lab is the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado that has joint development programs with Sandia, Battelle and other solar and renewable energy development leaders. Reference: http://www.nrel.gov
Today, Solar Photovoltaic (PV) processing can be found in many start-ups and established firms in our greater bay area region. Such processing is emerging in many ways beyond the traditional silicon wafer processing including techniques that print solar PV cells on rolls of stainless steel or exotic polymers.
The extreme need for low-cost development and production does not fit the high cost of real estate and personnel in our region. The leading producers have manufacturing facilities in the Philippines, China, SE Asia and India. Yes, new technologies are developed in the south bay but costs dictate low-cost production elsewhere.
New breakthroughs in solar PV and similar alternative generation have much of their processes done on production lines that require few operators. Such a future will not create a substantial number of jobs.
Harald A. Bailey
Member, CDSI Research Fellowship
CDSI Info: halbailey@yahoo.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/harald-a-bailey/0/466/731
Disclosure: CDSI members are funding resources and technology developers for many forms of alternative energy technologies including advanced solar and thermal generation techniques.
The Lab already has an extensive technology sharing effort that has been in place for a number of years.
This is just political posturing by yet another party hack.