The President’s overall FY 2006 budget request for energy efficiency programs at the Department of Energy is $847 million, down $21 million (2.5 percent) from the FY 2005 appropriation, and $29 million below the administration’s FY 2005 request. This continues a gradual slide from $913 million appropriated for energy efficiency programs in FY 2002.
However, in addition to the overall decline there are some major changes in priorities. The President has requested significant increases for fuel cell vehicle and biorefineries research. The money for those increases was taken from other energy efficiency programs. Thus the other core research, development, and deployment (RD&D) programs in energy efficiency — buildings, industry, other vehicles R&D, distributed energy, federal energy management, and deployment programs — would be cut 16 percent overall from FY 2005 levels. These dramatic cuts are proposed despite the severe energy needs facing our nation and repeated calls for more robust energy funding. Some highlights are below — all comparisons are to final FY 2005appropriations.
• Building Technologies: Building technologies are cut $7.5 million (11%) from FY 2005 funding levels, more than reversing the increase that Congress provided last year. The windows R&D program is cut 11 percent to $4.9 million, and the other building envelope R&D program, on thermal insulation and building materials, is eliminated.
• Equipment Standards and Analysis: Funding for equipment and appliance standards, used for rulemakings and testing procedures, is cut by 19 percent, from $10.1 million to $8.3 million. This cut would further delay a number of standards that are years behind statutory deadlines, and would not allow for additional rulemakings that would be required by the energy bill. Each year of delay in appliance standards adds billions of dollars of energy waste.
• Building Codes: Funding for technical work on residential and commercial building codes is cut by $0.24 million each (about 30 percent). In addition, funding for Building Codes Training and Assistance is cut by $1.0 million (19 percent). This reverses funding Congress added last year.
• Federal Energy Management: This program is cut by 4 percent to $17.1 million. However, an increase is needed for this program, which actually saves taxpayer dollars by cutting energy waste from 2 federal buildings, in order to implement the newly-reauthorized Energy Savings Performance Contracts.
• Energy Star and other deployment programs: The DOE portion of the Energy Star program is increased by $1.7 million (41 percent). However, other "Gateway Deployment" programs are cut by a total of $9.4 million, including Clean Cities, Inventions and Innovations, Energy Efficiency Information and Outreach, and Rebuild America.
• Industrial Technologies: The Industries of the Future (specific) programs, which work with several energy-intensive industries to improve efficiency, is slashed by $18.3 million (42 percent). Funding for this program would be cut by almost two-thirds since FY 2002. The highly effective Best Practices program and Industrial Assessment Centers also are cut by $0.4 million and $0.6 million respectively (last year the administration proposed increases for both programs).
• Vehicle and Fuel Cell Technologies: The proposed budget reflects the President’s focus on hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles. Fuel cell technologies receive another $8.7 million (12 percent) increase, and would be up 79 percent from FY 2002. The FreedomCar vehicles budget rises $15.1 million, and funding for other vehicle R&D programs are cut by almost that much, especially research on advanced combustion engines.
• Weatherization Assistance Grants: Grants for local groups to weatherize low-income homes receive $230 million, up only slightly from $228.2 million this year. This is the first budget in which this administration has not proposed a major increase for this program.
• EIA end-use surveys: Funding for the Energy Information Administration is increased by $2.1 million (2.5 percent), with more than half of the increase for Energy Consumption Surveys.
• Energy Star: The highly effective voluntary EPA Energy Star program receives a slight increase to $50.5 million. This funding level is stated in a footnote in the administration’s budget justification materials. This should help protect the program from internal cuts by the agency.
• Renewable energy and energy efficiency grants: Again the administration proposes to block $23 million in mandatory funding from the 2002 Farm Bill, but provide $10 million in appropriated funds for grants and loan guarantees to farmers, ranchers, and small rural businesses for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
Next steps: Congress will hold hearings on the budget beginning this week. The Alliance to Save Energy will seek over the coming months to increase funding for many of these important energy efficiency programs.
