DOE Spending on Alternate Energy Drops Drastically
The United States is even more dependent on crude oil and natural gas than it was almost 30 years ago but total budget authority for energy R&D at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) dropped by over 85 percent (in real terms) from 1978 to 2005, peaking in the late 1970s but falling sharply when oil prices returned to lower levels in the mid-1980s, a government watchdog agency finds.
"DOE’s R&D efforts have resulted in steady incremental progress in reducing costs for renewable energy technologies, reducing harmful emissions of coal-fired power plants, and improving safety and efficiency for nuclear power plants," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a new report. GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.
Further development and deployment of advanced renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy technologies face several key challenges, GAO says.
Challenges for renewable technologies include developing (1) cost-effective technologies to
produce ethanol using agricultural residues and other biomass materials as well as the infrastructure for distributing ethanol, (2) new wind technologies to expand into low wind and offshore locations, and (3) improved solar technologies that can better compete with conventional technologies.
Challenges for fossil technologies are primarily associated with developing advanced coal gasification technologies to further reduce harmful emissions and reducing their high capital costs, GAO says. Challenges for advanced nuclear technologies include uncertainty about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s revised licensing process, investor concerns about high
capital costs, and the disposal of a legacy of spent nuclear fuel, the agency says.
GAO suggests that Congress consider further stimulating the development and deployment of a
diversified energy portfolio by focusing R&D funding on advanced energy technologies. President Bush and Congress have expressed an interest to focus more on alternative clean energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and to deal with the issue of global climate change.
Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.
"DOE’s R&D efforts have resulted in steady incremental progress in reducing costs for renewable energy technologies, reducing harmful emissions of coal-fired power plants, and improving safety and efficiency for nuclear power plants," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a new report. GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.
Further development and deployment of advanced renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy technologies face several key challenges, GAO says.
Challenges for renewable technologies include developing (1) cost-effective technologies to
produce ethanol using agricultural residues and other biomass materials as well as the infrastructure for distributing ethanol, (2) new wind technologies to expand into low wind and offshore locations, and (3) improved solar technologies that can better compete with conventional technologies.
Challenges for fossil technologies are primarily associated with developing advanced coal gasification technologies to further reduce harmful emissions and reducing their high capital costs, GAO says. Challenges for advanced nuclear technologies include uncertainty about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s revised licensing process, investor concerns about high
capital costs, and the disposal of a legacy of spent nuclear fuel, the agency says.
GAO suggests that Congress consider further stimulating the development and deployment of a
diversified energy portfolio by focusing R&D funding on advanced energy technologies. President Bush and Congress have expressed an interest to focus more on alternative clean energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and to deal with the issue of global climate change.
Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.
Labels: clean energy, coal, energy, fossil fuel, nuclear, renewable energy, technologies, technology
posted by Scott Nance at
1/30/2007 07:39:00 AM
4 Comments
