DOE: $366M for Energy Innovation Hubs
Bill Funds Transit Projects, Home Retrofits, Global Clean Energy
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DOE to Invest $366 Million in Energy Innovation Hubs
DOE outlined plans in December to invest up to $366 million to establish and operate three Energy Innovation Hubs, each of which will focus on accelerating research and development in a key energy area. The three hubs will focus on producing fuels directly from sunlight; improving energy-efficient building systems design; and developing advanced nuclear reactors.
Each hub, to be funded at $122 million over five years, will bring together a multidisciplinary team of researchers to speed research and shorten the path from scientific discovery to technological development and commercial deployment of highly promising energy-related technologies. The hubs are expected to begin work in 2010 and become fully operational by 2011.
Of the two hubs that relate to renewable energy and energy efficiency, the Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub will likely draw on the mechanisms of photosynthesis, mimicking the ability of plants to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into sugar.
The Energy Efficient Building Systems Design Energy Innovation Hub will focus on advances in core technologies, such as advanced refrigeration cycles, combined with building system design and modeling to develop a fully instrumented building infrastructure.
Universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms are encouraged to form partnerships that will compete for an award to establish and operate a hub. A Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) has been issued for the Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub, with a due date of March 29, and the FOAs for the other two hubs should be issued in January. Awards, based on evaluation by scientific peer review, will be announced next summer. See the DOE press release, the Hubs Web site, and the FOA for the Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub.
Bill Funds Transit Projects, Home Retrofits, and Global Clean Energy
President Obama signed the fiscal year (FY) 2010 appropriations bill for a number of federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of Labor, on December 16, 2009.
The DOT funding includes $2.5 billion for high-speed rail projects and intercity passenger rail projects. It also includes $8.3 billion in FY 2010 spending for transit formula grants, which support investments in transit systems throughout the country. In addition, the bill includes $75 million in grants for public transit agencies to make capital investments that reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of their transit systems, such as buying more fuel-efficient buses or powering their transit systems with renewable energy.
As part of HUD's funding, the bill includes $50 million for an Energy Innovation Fund, which will enable the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the new Office of Sustainability to speed innovations in residential energy efficiency. The fund is also designed to help create a market for home energy efficiency retrofits. Half the funding is designated for an Energy Efficient Mortgage Innovation pilot program directed at the single-family housing market; the other half will support a pilot program for the multi-family housing market. The Labor Department will receive $40 million to prepare workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
