The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)’s Executive Director, Daniel Bresette, testified before Congress on the importance of energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create a clean energy economy, promote climate adaptation and resilience, and save Americans money.

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The President’s FY 11 budget request for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE/RE) programs is $2.36 billion (approximately eight percent of the total DOE budget), an increase of $113 million (five percent above the FY 10 appropriations). Nuclear Energy programs received an increase of $42 million (five percent above FY 10 appropriations) and Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability programs increased by $14 million (five percent above FY 10 appropriations). The budget request for fossil energy decreased by $191 million (20 percent below FY 10 appropriations), primarily through a $105 million cut (43 percent below FY 10 appropriations) in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) program was authorized in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), and is responsible for funding specific “high-risk, high-payoff, game-changing research and development projects to meet the nation’s long-term energy challenges.” The FY 11 budget includes a request of $300 million for this program, following its initial FY 09 funds of approximately $400 million.

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“Clearly the stimulus and economic recovery bill will provide the greatest boost to changing the outlook for clean energy investments, rather than the proposed FY 2010 budget,” said Carol Werner, EESI Executive Director. “While the proposed budget heads the country in the right direction overall in its increased support for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, and should be commended for that, at the same time we were disappointed that EPA’s Energy Star program received essentially flat funding. DOE’s water power program not only had received no additional investment in the stimulus package but was cut 25% ($10 million) in the proposed FY2010 budget, and yet these technologies offer immense near-term benefits. As the country grapples with how to make very significant progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, the willingness of the administration and Congress to invest in accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy will be tested by the FY2011 budget….because it will not have the advantage of this year’s major stimulus package to bolster it.” Below are clean energy budget highlights from DOE, USDA, EPA, HUD, DOL and DOT.

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The President’s FY 10 budget request for DOE includes: • $145 million increase in the Solar Energy Program (83% increase from FY 09 appropriations) • $97.7 million increase in the Building Technologies Program (70% increase from FY 09 appropriations) • $20.0 million increase in the Wind Energy Program (36% increase from FY 09 appropriations) • $60.1 million increase in the Vehicle Technologies Program (22% increase from FY 09 appropriations) • $18.0 million increase in the Biomass and Biorefinery Systems R&D (8.3% increase from FY 09 appropriations) • $6.0 million increase in the Geothermal Energy Program (13.6% increase from FY 09 appropriations) • $101 million cut in the Fuel Cell Technologies Program (formerly Hydrogen Technology) (60% decrease from FY 09 appropriations) • $10.0 million cut in the Water Power Program (25% decrease from FY 09 appropriations) • $115 million in new funding for RE-ENERGYSE, a new program undertaken by the DOE to “build the foundation of a vibrant American workforce to participate in the green economy.”

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On May 1, 2007, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman announced that the DOE will provide up to $200 million, from FY07 to FY11, to support the development of small-scale, (at ten percent of commercial scale), cellulosic biorefineries in the United States.

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Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications (ELSI) of Research on Alternative Bioenergy Technologies, Synthetic Genomics, or Nanotechnologies

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