U.S. government funds $16 million for renewables

WASHINGTON, DC, US, 2004-08-18 (Refocus Weekly)

The U.S. Department of Energy will provide US$16,204,099 for 159 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

State energy offices will use the funds to support renewable energy sources and to improve energy efficiency in schools and homes, while some projects will create opportunities for distributed energy resources. The states competed for the awards which are specialized funding beyond the annual formula grants, and the actual award dates will be announced in September.

“Energy efficiency is an important part of President Bush's National Energy Policy,” says energy secretary Spencer Abraham. “These important projects will greatly help in achieving the energy efficiency goals our administration has set.”

Funding includes $250,000 for three projects in the Solar Technology Program to deploy PV technologies on brownfield sites, and $380,651 for five projects under the State Wind Energy Support to collect data on wind resources at levels above 60 m height. States will propose instrumentation of existing towers that are at least 100 m for one year of measurements using duplicate anemometers to avoid tower shadow.

Seven projects will receive a total of $1,345,805 under the Distributed Energy & Electric Reliability - Regional Combined Cooling, Heating & Power Applications Centers, to support regional application centres that promote advanced CHP technologies. Seven biomass projects will receive $500,000 to foster “significant penetration” of biomass-based technologies and products.

The Federal Energy Management Program will provide $399,741 to five projects to promote renewable energy, green power purchases, siting of renewables on federal sites, and energy efficient operations and maintenance.

Clean Cities receives the largest funding, $5.4 million for 66 projects to support deployment of alternative fuel vehicles, while $1.9 million under the Industrial Technology Program will support training and assessments in energy-intensive industries. Building Codes will receive $1.6 million to support updating and enforcing of residential and commercial energy codes and standards, and Rebuild America will receive $3.9 million to support energy-saving measures. Building America will receive $499,639 to create building system performance packages that make new houses 40% to 70% more energy efficient, and existing houses 30% more energy efficient, than those built to local building code standards.

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