All nine new battery plants that will open as a result of Recovery Act investments have started construction, and four of those will be operational by the end of the year. In addition, 21 other plants will make battery or electric vehicle components with the help of Recovery Act grants.
Before the Recovery Act, high battery costs meant a car with a 100-mile range would need a battery that cost $33,000. Now, higher-volume domestic manufacturing could bring that cost down to $16,000 by the end of 2013 and to $10,000 by the end of 2015.
The report was released prior to President Obama's July 15 visit to Compact Power in Holland, Michigan. Compact Power matched more than dollar-for-dollar the $151 million Recovery Act grant awarded it last August. The company's new plant will manufacture batteries to support 52,000 Chevy Volts a year and will supply batteries for the new electric Ford Focus. See the DOE press release and the full report (PDF 341 KB).
DOE to Implement Cool Roofs across Federal Government
DOE announced on July 19 a series of initiatives to more broadly implement cool roof technologies on federal facilities across the country.
As part of these efforts, DOE will install cool roof on its facilities whenever cost effective over the lifetime of the roof, during construction of a new roof or replacement of an old one. Re-roofing for DOE's Washington D.C. headquarters, Idaho National Lab and Brookhaven National Lab are underway, covering over 350,000 square feet.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within DOE, has installed more than 2 million square feet of cool and white roofs at NNSA sites across the country. Through the Roof Asset Management Program, NNSA currently saves an average of $500,000 a year in energy costs and expects to save more than $10 million over the next 15 years. Overall, NNSA has reduced building heating and cooling costs by an average of 70% annually on re-roofed areas by installing cool roofs and increasing insulation.
DOE released its "Guidelines for Selecting Cool Roofs" to help other government agencies to do the same. The guidelines provide technical assistance on types of roofing materials and how to select a roof that will work best on specific facilities. These measures follow President Obama's Executive Order on Sustainability, issued in October 2009 and under which the federal government committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 28% by 2020.
DOE is also expanding cool roof research to enable technological innovation and guide policy implementation. The effort includes developing advanced testing protocols, conducting urban heat islands, and undertaking studies to further quantify the direct global cooling benefits associated with cool surfaces.
