President Barack Obama campaigned on the idea that we could put Americans back to work while also reducing our dependence on foreign oil and developing energy sources that would lesson our impact on the planet. The $825 billion economic stimulus bill currently being considered in the House of Representatives reflects this priority as well.
More than $54 billion is marked for clean energy initiatives. Of that total, $11 billion would be set aside for research and development, pilot projects, and federal funds for the Smart Grid Investment Program to modernize the electricity grid. Another $8 billion to guarantee loans for renewable energy power generation and transmission projects and $6.9 billion to provide block grants to state and local governments for clean energy investments are tossed in.
The General Services Administration (GSA) – the government’s landlord – would receive $6 billion for renovations and repairs to federal buildings focused on increasing energy efficiency and $600 million to replace older vehicles owned by the federal government with alternative fuel automobiles. The Department of Defense would get $350 million for research into using renewable energy to power weapons systems and military bases.
Makers of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems would get $2 billion in loans and grants to prop up their business while $300 million would provide consumers with rebates for buying energy efficient Energy Star appliances. Alternative fuel buses and trucks ($400 million), electric transportation ($200 million), clean coal ($2.4 billion), diesel emission reduction ($300 million), and home weatherization ($6.2 billion) are all additional pieces of the massive package.
While most agree that the development of clean energy, particularly to lesson our dependence on foreign oil, is an important goal, Republicans and others have been critical of attaching such spending measures when the real goal is to improve America’s dismal economy, particularly because they will take some time to implement and take effect.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) appears to agree with them. In a report released just this week, the CBO says that only a fraction of the money allocated to infrastructure and discretionary programs would be spent by October 1, 2010. The rest would come in future years, long after economists predict the recession will have ended.
While the CBO report does not look at the entire bill, it did analyze $18.5 billion of the clean energy spending initiatives. Of that amount they say that less than $3 billion would be spent before 2011.
Also in the series:
Related stories: