The FY12 federal budget includes $3.2 billion for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The budget request for EERE represents a 44% increase over the current FY 2010 appropriation of about $2.2 billion. The proposed budget aims to strengthen renewable energy sources, boost clean energy research, and cut expenses. This is consistent with the President’s goal of the United States generating 80% of its electricity from clean sources by 2035. Overall, the DOE budget would grow 12% over 2010 levels while cutting a number of programs and administrative costs. (FY 2010 numbers are used here for comparisons because Congress never passed an FY 2011 budget, and the federal government is running on a stopgap budget resolution reflecting 2010 levels).
The president’s budget includes significant boosts for EERE programs, including a 115% increase for building technologies, a 93% increase for vehicle technologies, and an 88% increase for solar energy. Also, wind and biomass energy programs would receive hikes of 61% and 57% respectively, while weatherization spending would expand by 52%. The proposed budget calls for $550 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to continue support for early-stage clean energy research projects. Three existing energy innovation hubs—and three new ones focused on batteries and energy storage, smart grid technologies, and critical materials—would get $146 million under the proposal, while $100 million would be spent to continue 46 “energy frontier research centers” begun in 2009. The new budget would promote renewable energy and energy efficient projects with $300 million in credit subsidies to support approximately $3-4 billion in projects. Additionally, the President’s Plan for Science and Innovation seeks to double the budgets of key basic research agencies, providing $5.4 billion for DOE’s Office of Science, with $2 billion of that for basic energy sciences to discover new ways to produce, store, and use energy.