U.S. politicians want more funding for renewables and efficiency
WASHINGTON, DC, US, May 4, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
A group of federal politicians in the United States has asked for significant increases in funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
The 67 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to David Hobson
and Peter Visclosky of the energy subcommittee of the Committee on
Appropriations, asking for restoration of funding to last year's enacted levels
for the renewables budget at the Department of Energy.
“As you develop the fiscal year 2006 Energy & Water Appropriations bill,
we ask that you support restoration of funding to last year's enacted levels for
the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE/RE)
budget, while supporting the President's recommended levels for wind, fuel
cells, and renewably based hydrogen,” says the letter initiated by Greg Walden
and Mark Udall.
"Robust R&D funding for programs remains important to help further
reduce technical, institutional, and economic barriers to enable even faster
market penetration,” the letter explains. “Such funding should not be
curtailed when these technologies are just beginning to approach making real
inroads into the marketplace.”
As the price of gasoline exceeds US$2 per gallon and a barrel of oil is $50,
“we believe cutbacks in DOE's core EE/RE programs are short-sighted,” it
adds. “Investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy are particularly
low-cost and effective strategies for lowering energy costs and enhancing
national and homeland security.”
“The mix of sustainable energy technologies offers one of the most
cost-effective options for reducing the export of U.S. dollars to pay for
burgeoning oil and natural gas imports, which totalled $166 billion and $18
billion respectively in 2004,” it says. “Renewable technologies also have
the unique potential to tap large domestic resource bases at lower and lower
costs, both to the economy and the environment.”
“Overall, energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are making
significant gains in the U.S. energy market place, creating domestic industries
and good-paying jobs,” and the economic benefits of federal programs are
“growing ever larger in this time of rising fuel prices.” Studies suggest
that every dollar invested in energy-efficiency research at the DOE returns $20
to the U.S. economy.
“Funding levels for most of the DOE's core renewable energy programs have been
targeted for reductions, including the biomass/biofuels, geothermal, hydropower,
and solar energy programs,” it warns. The budget request would reduce funding
for programs by $24 million, not including another $4 million to be cut from
distributed energy, and only DOE's core programs for wind energy has a proposed
“modest increase.”
“The American people have repeatedly signalled their support for renewable
energy and energy efficient technologies,” and the ability for renewables to
address “the most critical flaw in our nation's security: our economy's
perilous reliance on foreign sources of energy” prompted the politicians to
urge an appropriations bill that restores funding for the renewables and
efficiency programs being recommended for cuts while retaining the recommended
funding levels for wind, fuel cells and renewably-based hydrogen.
“Robust R&D funding for these programs remains important to help further
reduce technical, institutional, and economic barriers to enable even faster
market penetration,” they agreed. “Such funding should not be curtailed when
these technologies are just beginning to approach making real inroads into the
marketplace.”
Fuel cell and hydrogen from renewable sources are not substitutes for the mix of
conventional renewables and energy efficiency technologies “that are poised to
address the nation's most pressing energy needs today and tomorrow,” it
concludes. “Further cuts will only increase U.S. vulnerability to energy
supply disruptions, worsen fuel price volatility, and cause higher energy prices
overall unnecessarily, while also ceding lucrative energy efficiency and
renewable energy product markets to other countries, such as Japan and
Germany.”
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