Letter from the Director – AMO Peer Review

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) recently conducted a peer review of the technology research and development (R&D) and technical partnerships supported by our office. I want to thank the entire peer review team and research participants. The strength and breadth of their industry knowledge is highly valued and will help us evaluate and strengthen our portfolio.

 

This year, Clay Nesler, Vice President of Global Energy and Sustainability from Johnson Controls, shared his industry perspective on the value of AMO. The Assistant Secretary for EERE, Daniel Simmons, spoke about his top three priorities for EERE - energy affordability, energy integration, and energy storage – and the advancements that have made the manufacturing sector more energy-productive.

 

In an effort to improve our peer review process, we made a point to better outline our priorities and strategic goals, provide more validation of current R&D projects, and highlight updates we’ve made to our Multi-Year Program Plan. We also discussed ways to enhance project level techno-economic analysis – an action recommended in our 2018 AMO Peer Review Report. In the future, we will continue to improve how we talk about our programs and strategic goals. We plan to publish the final 2019 AMO Peer Review report in the near future.

 

Manufacturing is vital to the U.S. economy. Strategic investments in early-stage R&D– in partnership with industry, national laboratories, and universities– is critical to increasing U.S. competitiveness and driving manufacturing productivity. As we look ahead, our programs and projects will continue to support the Administration's key priorities and drive innovative technologies.

 

Again, thank you for your participation. Your partnership with AMO is invaluable to the work we do.

 

Sincerely,

Valri Lightner

Deputy Director

Advanced Manufacturing Office

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Department of Energy