ACEEE Analysis

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Summary of The Department of Energy's FY 2004 Budget Request

February 2003

DOE's FY 2004 budget requests would cut spending on energy efficiency research and development, which is the core of the efficiency program's mission, by 8%. Compared to the 2002 budget, which is the level at which the agency is operating today because of delays in the FY 2003 appropriations legislation, the Administration's request is effectively a 12% cut in efficiency R&D. This is presented as a reduction of "only" 4% energy efficiency compared to the FY 2003 request, because of increases in grants for weatherization and other state and community programs.. It is also worth noting that when inflation is taken into account, the overall efficiency funding cut is 6%.

Of the individual efficiency R&D program budgets, the only significant increase is in fuel cell technologies, consistent with the President's announced hydrogen initiative. The largest cuts come in the industrial (30%) and federal energy management (15%) programs. Larger cuts were requested in the biomass and climate control budgets, but these are not primarily aimed at energy efficiency.

The table below summarizes overall efficiency spending in the 2004 request.

(Dollars in Thousands)
Program	FY 2002 Funding	FY 2003 Request	FY 2004 Request	Change from FY 2003	Comments
Vehicle Technologies	181,352	153,563	157,623	+2.6%	13% cut from 2002 level
Fuel Cell Technologies	46,682	57,500	77,500	+34.8%
Weatherization & Deployment	324,181	359,446	356,960	-0.7%
Distributed Energy Resources	55,137	54,784	51,784	-5.5%
Building Technologies	63,062	52,563	52,563	---	17% cut from 2002 levels
Industrial Technologies	100,909	91,477	64,429	-29.6%	36% cut from 2002 levels
Biomass and Biorefinery R&D	24,779	23,939	8,808	-63.2%
Federal Energy Management	18,900	23,425	19,962	-14.8%
Climate Control Tech. Initiative	---	20,000	9,500	-52.5%
Program Management	81,442	74,954	76,664	+2.3%
Total	894,464	911,651	875,793	-3.9%
Total Grants	275,000	315,898	326,998	+3.5%
Total Non-Grant	621,464	595,753	548,795	-7.9%	12% cut relative to 2002 level