Obama Proposes Home Energy Retrofit Program for Job Creation
DOE, USDA: $564M for Biorefinery Projects
DOE Launches Save Energy Now LEADER Program
ARPA-E: $100M for Biofuel, Battery Research
Commerce Dept to Speed Review of Green Technology Patents
Energy Star Labels Prohibited on Some LG Refrigerators
U.S. GHG Down 2.2% in 2008
Obama Proposes Home Energy Retrofit Program for Job Creation
President Obama proposed a new rebate program on Tuesday to reward homeowners for making their homes more energy efficient, while also proposing additional federal investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
As part of a speech about jobs and the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., he noted that home energy retrofits create jobs, save money for families, and reduce the pollution. He also called for aid to small businesses and new investments in infrastructure. Most of the president's proposals require congressional approval.
Obama's job plan calls for an expansion of select ARRA initiatives that promote energy efficiency and clean energy jobs. He noted that a third of the Recovery Act is intended for investments "to put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done," such as doubling U.S. capacity for producing power from renewable energy. But most of those initiatives are oversubscribed, causing many strong ideas to go unfunded.
With that in mind, the Obama Administration is supporting the expansion of programs for which additional federal dollars will leverage private investment and create jobs quickly, such as investments in industrial energy efficiency, as well as new or extended tax incentives for investing in U.S. manufacturing facilities for renewable energy technologies. See the White House press release and a transcript of the president's remarks.
DOE & USDA Award $564M to Biorefinery Projects
On December 4, DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the award of $564 million in ARRA funds to 19 integrated biorefinery projects. Located in 15 states, the projects will validate biorefining technologies and help lay the foundation for full commercial-scale development of a US biomass industry.
The selected projects will produce advanced biofuels, bioproducts, and power from biomass feedstocks at the pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale. Collectively, these projects will be matched with more than $700 million in private and non-federal cost-share funds, for total project investments of nearly $1.3 billion.
These efforts are designed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, spur creation of a domestic biomass industry, and provide new jobs in many rural areas of the country. They will also help close the gap between current biofuels production from a small number of advanced biorefineries and aggressive goals for cellulosic and advanced biofuels included in the federal Renewable Fuel Standard.
Of the new funding, up to $483 million will go to 14 pilot-scale and 4 demonstration-scale biorefinery projects, which will produce biofuels and bioproducts from such sources as algae, poultry fat, plant oils, switchgrass, sweet sorghum, agricultural and forest residues, and various sources of wood (including hybrid poplar trees and wood waste). The projects will produce ethanol and biobased versions of diesel fuel, gasoline, and jet fuel. Several projects will produce high-value biobased chemicals, including potassium acetate, ethyl acrylate, and succinnic acid. One demonstration-scale project will also produce 2 megawatts of power.
The funds include a DOE grant of up to $50 million and a USDA loan guarantee of $54.5 million for Sapphire Energy's planned facility in Columbus, New Mexico. Sapphire plans to convert algae into "Green Crude," a drop-in replacement for crude oil that can be refined into a variety of fuels at a traditional oil refinery. See the Sapphire Energy press release.
