The United States is matching its commitment to renewable energy with $2 billion in new funding.
President Barack Obama recently signed an omnibus appropriation act into law providing $1.93 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for fiscal year 2009, which runs through the end of September. The funding represents a 13.5 percent increase above the Fiscal Year 2008.
The act provides nearly $169 million for hydrogen technology, including $3 million for fuel processors and $5 million for manufacturing. $217 million is set aside for biomass energy; $175 million for solar energy, including $30 million for concentrating solar power; $55 million for wind energy; $44 million for geothermal energy; $40 million for "water power," which includes both conventional hydropower and tidal and marine technologies. $273 million is provided for vehicle technologies; $140 million for building technologies; $90 million for industrial technologies and $25 million to support distributed energy, combined heat and power, and advanced reciprocating engines.
Renewable energy grant programs, international programs, infrastructure development activities, and other supporting activities also received funding increases under the appropriations act.
Producing renewable energy will take time and effort as well as money. But the U.S. is committed to making this momentous transition. As President Obama pledged in his inaugural address, "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."
President Barack Obama recently signed an omnibus appropriation act into law providing $1.93 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for fiscal year 2009, which runs through the end of September. The funding represents a 13.5 percent increase above the Fiscal Year 2008.
The act provides nearly $169 million for hydrogen technology, including $3 million for fuel processors and $5 million for manufacturing. $217 million is set aside for biomass energy; $175 million for solar energy, including $30 million for concentrating solar power; $55 million for wind energy; $44 million for geothermal energy; $40 million for "water power," which includes both conventional hydropower and tidal and marine technologies. $273 million is provided for vehicle technologies; $140 million for building technologies; $90 million for industrial technologies and $25 million to support distributed energy, combined heat and power, and advanced reciprocating engines.
Renewable energy grant programs, international programs, infrastructure development activities, and other supporting activities also received funding increases under the appropriations act.
Producing renewable energy will take time and effort as well as money. But the U.S. is committed to making this momentous transition. As President Obama pledged in his inaugural address, "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."