Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing nearly $100 million for research into clean technologies. Wednesday the administration announced $95 million to be split between four University of California projects. UC Executive vice President for University Affairs Bruce Darling says it’s a critical investment.
Darling: The governor’s initiative is laying the foundation for developments that will become a daily part of our lives 20-30 years from now, much in the way that investments that were made 30 years ago brought about the internet the world wide web and many other such commonplace activities that we experience today.
The bulk of the money would be in the form of lease-revenue bonds, with the rest coming from the state’s general fund. Some of it would be intended to help the universities leverage other federal and private dollars.
Among the recipients: UC’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s Helios Project, which researches sustainable energy. Either Berkeley or UC San Diego could get nearly half of the money – both are competing for a major British Petroleum grant to build an energy biosciences Institute. The winner would get the funds. About $20 million would go to the California Institutes for Science and Innovation. The remaining $5 million would go to one of three universities in the running for a supercomputer project.
