•The Coal Research Initiative.
Coal provides more than half of the Nation’s electricity
supply, and America has enough coal to last more than 200 years.
As part of the National Energy Policy, the President committed
$2 billion over 10 years to speed up research in the use of
clean coal technologies to generate electricity while meeting
environmental regulations at low cost. To tap the potential
of America’s enormous coal reserves, the President’s
2007 Budget includes $281 million for development of clean coal
technologies, nearly completing the President’s commitment
4 years ahead of schedule.
•The FutureGen Initiative.
The President’s 2007 Budget includes $54 million for the
FutureGen Initiative. The FutureGen initiative is a partnership
between government and the private sector to develop innovative
technologies for an emissions-free coal plant that captures
the carbon dioxide it produces and stores it in deep geologic
formations.
•The Solar America Initiative.
The 2007 budget will propose a new $148 million Solar America
Initiative, an increase of $65 million, to accelerate the development
of semiconductor materials that convert sunlight directly to
electricity. These solar photovoltaic “PV” cells
can be used to deliver energy services to rural areas and can
be incorporated directly into building materials, so that there
can be future “zero energy” homes that produce more
energy than they consume.
•Expanding Clean Energy
from Wind. The 2007 Budget includes $44 million for wind energy
research, a $5 million increase over 2006 levels. This will
help improve the efficiency and lower the costs of new wind
technologies for use in low-speed wind environments. Combined
with ongoing efforts to expand access to Federal lands for wind
energy development, this new funding will help dramatically
increase the use of wind energy in the United States.
The President wants to accelerate
the development of domestic, renewable alternatives to gasoline
and diesel fuels. The Administration will accelerate research
in cutting-edge methods of producing “cellulosic ethanol”
with the goal of making the use of such ethanol practical and
competitive within six years. The Administration will also step
up the Nation’s research in better batteries for use in
hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run
on hydrogen.
•The Bio-Refinery Initiative.
To achieve greater use of “homegrown” renewable
fuels in the United States, advanced technologies need to be
perfected to make fuel ethanol from cellulosic (plant fiber)
biomass, which is now discarded as waste. The President’s
2007 Budget will include $150 million, a $59 million increase
over 2006, to help develop bio-based transportation fuels from
agricultural waste products, such as wood chips, stalks, or
switch grass. Research scientists say that accelerating research
into “cellulosic ethanol” can make it cost-competitive
by 2012, offering the potential to displace up to 30% of the
current fuel use.
•Developing more efficient
vehicles. Current hybrids on the road run on a battery developed
at the DOE. The President’s plan would accelerate research
in the next generation of battery technology for hybrid vehicles
and “plug-in hybrids.” Current hybrids can only
use the gasoline engine to charge the on-board battery. A “plug-in”
hybrid can run either on electricity or on gasoline and can
be plugged into the wall at night to recharge its batteries.
Advanced battery technologies offer the potential to significantly
reduce oil consumption in the near-term. The 2007 Budget includes
$30 million, a $6.7 million increase over 2006, to speed up
the development of this battery technology and extend the range
of these vehicles.
•The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.
President Bush announced a $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative
to develop technology for commercially viable hydrogen-powered
fuel cells. Through private-sector partnerships, the Initiative
and related FreedomCAR programs will make it cost-effective
for Americans to use clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2020.
The President’s 2007 Budget will provide $289 million,
an increase of $53 million over 2006, to accelerate the development
of hydrogen fuel cells and affordable hydrogen-powered cars.
