In the News

NPR’s Planet Money developed this graphic from data from the Office of Management and Budget to show changes in government spending trends for major pieces of the U.S. economy for the years 1962, 1987, and 2011.  According to the graphic, the largest piece of government spending – defense – has decreased as a share of government spending from 51.7 percent in 1962 to 22.6 percent in 2011, while the share of government spending for Medicare, Medicaid, and other health services has increased.

The analysis groups spending on energy into the “Everything Else” category, along with spending on education, science, agriculture, and natural resources, etc.  The “Everything Else” share of government spending has declined from 14.8 percent in 1962 to 11.7 percent in 2011.

Late this April, the Army debuted the Fuel Efficiency Ground Vehicle Demonstrator (FED) Bravo at the Society of Automotive Engineers 2012 World Congress in Detroit, MI.  The FED Bravo is a hybrid electric vehicle, but beyond that the technology also allows the vehicle to provide power to any microgrid it is plugged into.  This will be especially useful on the Army’s forward operating bases and outposts, where energy security is a consistent issue.

For more data on Department of Defense investments in research and development of clean energy innovation, see our blog posts here, and use the Tracker to search your specific interests – all individual projects include funding and a short description of project details.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Energy and Water appropriations bill for FY2013.  The bill included expected to cuts of nearly $1 billion to clean energy innovation below the FY2013 President’s Request.  Quick to follow, the Senate Appropriations Committee released their own Energy and Water proposal yesterday, sticking much more closely to the Presidential Request numbers with fewer cuts to energy innovation.

Emphasis in both of these bills was placed on protecting the nuclear security of the United States while modernizing the country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, which is counted in the budget as defense spending.  Also, both committees addressed the issue of high and rising gas prices in the US by appropriating increased funds to fossil fuel energy research and development.  The House also suggested the creation of a $25 million shale oil program. 

Investment for energy innovation comes from a variety of sources – including the Department of Defense.  Increasingly, the Department of Defense is becoming a source of energy innovation for advanced biofuels, better batteries, and energy efficiency technologies that make more sense for the operational applications with which the DOD is concerned.

Since the DOD’s carbon footprint involves the use of 2.5 billion gallons of fuel every year by the Air Force alone, initiatives advancing renewable energy technologies propose interesting potential results.  More information from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation on the policy implications of spurring DOD investments in energy innovation is available here.  Further analysis on the DOD’s role in energy innovation spending proposed in the FY13 budget request will be presented in the coming weeks!

Last week Dr. Arun Majumdar, director of the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) asked National Journal readers where government investment in energy R&D would have the most impact.  By identifying the “white spaces,” ARPA-E has the potential to develop technologies to revolutionize both energy production and usage.

The Energy Innovation Tracker is also working towards identifying the “white spaces” by tracking federal spending on energy innovation.  Increasing the transparency of government spending on innovation is the first step towards understanding the gaps preventing progressive breakthroughs.