The Obama administration has released its fiscal-year 2010 budget, including requests for various programs and agencies related to renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
The budget request for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs is $2.3 billion (approximately 8% of the DOE budget), an increase of $140 million (6.4% from FY09 appropriations).
The president's FY10 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency represents the highest level of funding for the agency in its 39-year history, notes the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). The request is for $10.5 billion in discretionary budget authority, an increase of $7.6 billion from FY09 appropriations.
In addition, the president's FY10 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development reflects a new focus on community development and redevelopment as a key part of the solution to climate change and energy independence, according to EESI. The budget request includes $2.4 million for a new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities.
Obama's request for Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration includes programs to help the country's youth move into the growing fields of renewable energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and home retrofitting.
‘Clearly the stimulus and economic recovery bill will provide the greatest boost to changing the outlook for clean energy investments, rather than the proposed FY 2010 budget,’ says Carol Werner, EESI's executive director. ‘While the proposed budget heads the country in the right direction overall in its increased support for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, and should be commended for that, at the same time we were disappointed that EPA's Energy Star program received essentially flat funding.
‘DOE's water power program not only had received no additional investment in the stimulus package, but was cut 25 percent ($10 million) in the proposed FY2010 budget, and yet these technologies offer immense near-term benefits,’ Werner adds.
SOURCE: Environmental and Energy Study Institute
