News | Energy Efficiency

http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/2549/

The latest allocation of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are aimed at providing a boost to energy efficiency efforts across the country.
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the industrial sector is to benefit from an award of $155 million to support 41 projects.
The nine largest projects will draw in a further $634 million in private support to invest in combined heat and power, district energy and waste energy recovery systems, and energy efficiency initiatives in hospitals, utilities and industrial facilities.
The remaining projects, which are an extension of the DOE’s Save Energy Now programme, will bring together universities, state agencies and regional organisations to provide energy assessments and assistance to industrial plants to reduce energy use.
Meanwhile, a further $38 million has been allocated from ARRA to support energy efficiency and conservation initiatives in Alaska, Kansas, Utah and West Virginia.
As part of the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) programme, the funds will support efforts to reduce energy use, cut emissions and create green jobs.
And the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will see its funding increase 3% in 2010 to $2.24 billion with the approval by President Barak Obama of the DOE’s appropriations for the year.
Those benefitting from the increase are EERE’s Building Technologies Program, which will receive $200 million up 43% from this year, and the Federal Energy Management Program, which will see its funding increase 45% to $32 million. EERE’s wind and solar programmes will also see healthy increases in their budgets.
But overall, the funding is 3% less than requested by the DOE and includes more than $292 million earmarked for congressionally directed projects.