In a panel discussion at the 2011 EnergyBiz Leadership Forum on February 28th, 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratories (Golden, Colorado, U.S.) Director Dr. Dan Arvizu blasted proposed cuts to renewable energy research and development (R&D) programs, saying such cuts would set the nation back "years if not decades". The statement came in the midst of a bitter conflict over the federal budget deficit between U.S. President Obama's Democratic Party and the opposition Republican Party, which has included heavy cuts to renewable energy R&D in its budget proposals.

"Cuts have been proposed to the R&D programs of the Department of Energy that would devastate wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, hydrogen, energy efficiency and a host of other promising new technology development programs," stated Dr. Arvizu.

"Cuts that approach 30, 40 percent, or more, of our R&D budgets, that most informed advisers would suggest are already grossly underfunded, would be incredibly short sighted. Indeed these cuts would be wasteful of the progress and momentum established by previous recent investments. Such cuts to serious programs would have devastating effects to very valuable research endeavors."

Parties express differing priorities in R&D cuts

On February 14th, 2011 U.S. President Barack Obama released a proposed 2012 budget to the U.S. congress which prioritized funding for clean energy technologies including solar R&D. On February 19th 2011 the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives responded by passing a 2011 spending bill which includes heavy cuts to a number of programs, including cutting USD873 million from energy research and USD886 million from the nation's ten national laboratories.

The cuts proposed by the Republicans are not only larger in scope but represent different priorities. According to USA Today, the Republican budget proposal cuts only USD1 billion from defense research and more than USD4 billion from non-defense research, with particularly heavy cuts to energy and climate research.

No end in sight for budget conflict

The House budget proposal was met with opposition from President Obama's Democratic Party in a stalemate that threatened to shut down funding for the U.S. Government. On March 2, 2011, the U.S. Senate approved a compromise budget bill that authorizes spending for only two weeks, assuring that regardless of whether or not the bill is signed into law the budget conflict will continue.

2011-03-03| Courtesy: National Renewable Energy Laboratories | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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