Chu takes energy efficiency message to ‘Extreme Makeover’

Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who heads the Energy Department, is also a budding TV star.

Chu will take his energy efficiency message to ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Sunday.

From DoE this afternoon:

This Sunday, February 14th, Energy Secretary Steven Chu will appear on the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  The Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with the builders to offer technical assistance as they designed and built a super high efficiency home and a neighborhood learning center in the Washington, D.C area.

The builders used the latest “green” technologies, including an insulated concrete form foundation, triple-layer insulated windows, hybrid electric water heaters and a geothermal heat pump, compact fluorescent lighting, and solar panels for electricity.

The program will air this Sunday, February 14 from 9 – 11pm Eastern Standard Time on ABC.

Chu is a strong advocate of energy efficiency programs as a way to slow greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs.

The 2009 stimulus law steered billions of dollars into efficiency programs, including $5 billion for low-income home weatherization. Chu has also sped up the department’s appliance efficiency standards program and ramped up enforcement of the standards.

Chu is jumping to TV after a brief radio career. Last weekend he was a guest on National Public Radio’s quiz show “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!”