U.S. to increase funding for clean energies by 22%

WASHINGTON, DC, US, February 8, 2006 (Refocus Weekly)

U.S. president George Bush will propose US$148 million to support solar energy and $44 million for wind energy in his next federal budget.

In his ‘State Of The Union’ address to Congress, Bush outlined his plan for an ‘Advanced Energy Initiative’ to reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy. He has set a national goal of replacing 75% of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025, and by providing a 22% increase in research for clean energy by the Department of Energy.

The 2007 budget will propose a new $148 million ‘Solar America Initiative’ to accelerate development of solar photovoltaic cells to deliver electricity to rural areas and to be incorporated directly into building materials as ‘zero energy homes.’ The funding represents an increase of $65 million over the last budget in FY06.

The budget will also include $44 million for research into wind energy, an increase of $5 million over FY06 levels, to improve efficiency and lower costs of new wind technologies for use in low-speed wind environments. “Combined with ongoing efforts to expand access to federal lands for wind energy development, this new funding will help dramatically increase the use of wind energy in the United States,” the president explained.

“With America on the verge of breakthroughs in advanced energy technologies, the best way to break the addiction to foreign oil is through new technology,” and the federal government has spent $10 billion since 2001 to develop “cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources.” Additional funding will go to clean coal technologies and clean nuclear energy to reduce overall demand for natural gas and lead to lower energy costs.

Coal generates half of the country’s electricity and the U.S. has sufficient coal to last 200 years. In the National Energy Policy, Bush committed $2 billion over ten years to accelerate research in clean coal technologies and his 2007 budget includes $281 million to meet his commitment four years ahead of schedule. The budget also includes $54 million for the ‘FutureGen Initiative ’that is a partnership between the public and private sectors to develop innovative technologies for carbon sequestration.

“The United States must move beyond a petroleum-based economy and develop new ways to power automobiles,” and Bush wants to accelerate development of domestic green fuel alternatives to gasoline and diesel. His administration will accelerate research in cellulosic ethanol, with a goal of making such ethanol practical and competitive within six years, and will step up research in batteries for use in hybrid and electric cars and in cars that run on hydrogen.

The 2007 budget will include $150 million, an increase of $59 million over FY06, to develop bio-based transportation fuels from agricultural waste products, to make ethanol cost-competitive by 2012 and displace 30% of current fuel use.

“There are an estimated 250 million vehicles on America's highways, and Americans will purchase more than 17 million vehicles this year,” he explained. “It will take 15 years to switch America's automobiles over to more fuel efficient technologies. The sooner breakthroughs are achieved, the better for America.”

The 2001 National Energy Policy included 100 recommendations to increase domestic energy supplies from renewables and to encourage conservation and, in 2005, Bush signed the Energy Policy Act to improve electrical infrastructure, reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy, increase conservation and expand the use of renewable energies.


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