Renewables Funding to Take a Big Hit

President Bush touted hydrogen car initiatives in his recent State of the Union message, but for most renewables and energy efficiency programs, the U.S. Dept. of Energy is looking to trim budgets for fiscal 2004.

DOE is asking Congress for $1.32 billion for these programs, a 0.1% increase above its 2003 request. This includes a request of $88 million for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies—a 121% increase over 2003.

The administration’s decision to focus on hydrogen means cutbacks for other renewables. Biomass research suffered the biggest blow, but funding for solar, geothermal and distributed generation remained fairly level.

Funding for distributed energy resources would drop 5.5% to $51.8 million in fiscal 2004 “to encourage higher cost-share on efforts with industry,” the department said.

From Pure Power, Spring 2003

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