by Jbs022009 e3 — February 23, 2009—The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (.pdf file) signed by President Barack Obama February 17, 2009 includes $16.8 billion for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The funding is a nearly tenfold increase for EERE, which received $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2008.
While the bulk of the new EERE funding is supporting direct grants and rebates, $2.5 billion will support EERE’s applied research, development and deployment activities in such areas as biomass, geothermal technologies, electric technologies for vehicles, and energy efficiency of information and communications technologies. A new agency will also be created to support innovative energy research, the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E).
The package includes funding for energy-efficient appliances; Energy Star programs; energy audit programs and projects to install fuel cells and solar, wind, and biomass power projects at government buildings; grants for states that adopt strict building energy codes and provide utility incentives for energy efficiency measures; electric grid analysis and upgrades; smart grid technologies; a new office within the GSA to convert federal buildings into high-performance green buildings; greener federal vehicle fleets; high-speed rail and transit; and more.
A full summary of the energy efficiency and renewable energy-related provisions in the stimulus bill can be found in the February 18 issue of the EERE Network News.
