Energy Measures in American Recovery & Reinvestment Act

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes:

$16.8 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The funding is a nearly tenfold increase for EERE, which received $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2008.$2.5 billion will support EERE's applied research, development and deployment activities, including $800 million for the Biomass Program, $400 million for the Geothermal Technologies Program, and $50 million for efforts to increase the energy efficiency of information and communications technologies. $400 million will support efforts to add electric technologies to vehicles.

$5 billion will go towards the Weatherization Assistance Program, and the act also increases the eligible income level under the program, increases the funding assistance level to $6,500 per home, and allows new weatherization assistance for homes that were weatherized as recently as 1994.

$4 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rehabilitate and retrofit public housing, including increasing the energy efficiency of units, plus an additional $510 million to do the same for homes maintained by Native American housing programs. HUD will receive an additional $250 million to increase the energy efficiency of HUD-sponsored, low-income housing.

$2 billion in EERE funds toward grants for the manufacturing of advanced battery systems and components within the United States, as well as the development of supporting software. The battery grants will support advanced lithium-ion batteries and hybrid electric systems.

$300 million will support an Alternative Fueled Vehicles Pilot Grant Program, and an additional $300 million will support rebates for energy efficient appliances, while also supporting DOE's efforts under the Energy Star Program.

$3.2 billion will go toward Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, which were established in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, but were not previously funded.

$3.1 billion of EERE funds will go toward the State Energy Program for additional grants that don't need to be matched with state funds.

$500 million to the Department of Labor to prepare workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

$6 billion to support loan guarantees for renewable energy and electric transmission technologies. The funds are expected to guarantee more than $60 billion in loans.

$4.5 billion to theU.S. General Servies Administration (GSA) to convert federal buildings into high-performance green buildings.

$100 million for the Energy Conservation Investment Program within the Department of Defense, as well as another $100 million for energy conservation and alternative energy projects at facilities of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

$300 million to cover the costs of acquiring greener motor vehicles for federal vehicle fleets, including hybrids, electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Source: RenewableEnergyWorld.com