by Brianna Crandall — April 19, 2013—President Barack Obama on April 10 requested a $28.4 billion Fiscal Year 2014 budget for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), including $2.78 billion for the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE. According to the EERE, the request is part of the Administration-wide effort to strengthen the U.S. economy with energy that is cleaner, cheaper, and creates sustainable jobs.
As Assistant Energy Secretary Dr. David Danielson explained in an April 10 presentation on the $2.78 billion EERE portion of the FY 2014 Budget Rollout, the EERE portion of the request includes $615 million in funding for research and development into sources of renewable electricity generation such as wind, solar, water power, and geothermal energy.
The proposed budget also includes $949 million for energy savings programs including the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), Weatherization and Intergovernmental, building technologies, and advanced manufacturing. And the proposed FY 2014 budget includes a $957 million request for sustainable transportation, including research and development of vehicles, bioenergy, and fuel cell technologies.
The EERE explains that overall, the budget request for the Energy Department invests in innovative research to lead in research, development, deployment, and production of clean energy technologies. It also creates a new Race to the Top for Energy Efficiency and Grid Modernization, and helps consumers and businesses save money and improve their energy efficiency through the President’s Better Buildings Initiative, which aims to make commercial and industrial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020 and to accelerate private-sector investment in energy efficiency.
Other highlights in the FY 2014 budget include $80 million for advanced technologies and tools that improve clean energy integration into the grid; $147 million in research and development of smart grid investments, cybersecurity for energy control systems, and National Electricity Delivery within the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability; and $2 billion for an Energy Security Trust to help transition U.S. cars and trucks off of oil.
The White House blog includes more details.
