EERE Requests $138.3 Million for OIT in FY 2003

February 22, 2002

DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has delivered it fiscal year 2003 budget request to Congress. The request includes $138.3 million dollars for the Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT).

The budget request categorizes OIT activities as Industries of the Future--Specific and Industries of the Future --Crosscutting. It also includes funding for management and planning and cooperative programs with states.

EERE is requesting $71.6 million for Industries of the Future --Specific activities. These projects involve the nine most energy-intensive industries: aluminum, agriculture, chemicals, glass, forest products, metal casting, mining, petroleum, and steel. The budget category also includes funding for Industries of the Future (IOF) supporting industries. Among the projects highlighted in the budget request are:

ﵦnbsp;Installing prototype multi-port cylinder dryers for the forest products industry,
ﵦnbsp;Demonstrating an intelligent pot-room controller at a commercial smelter as part the Aluminum IOF,
ﵦnbsp;Incorporating new rapid solidification process tooling technologies for the die casting industry,
ﵦnbsp;Developing fuel-cell mining vehicles, and
ﵦnbsp;Commercializing two new biomass-based product technologies as part of the Agriculture IOF.

The request for IOF Crosscutting activities is $57.1 million. The category includes enabling technologies, technical assistance, financial assistance, and technical/program management support.

Under the enabling technologies budget request for $32.1 million, EERE is placing particular emphasis on developing clean combustion technologies, sensors and controls, and advanced industrial technologies. The BestPractices program, included in this category, is called out as a valuable tool in disseminating information on how to improve efficiency of plant wide systems, including motors, compressed air, steam, and process heat.

EERE requests $15.9 million for OIT technical assistance, including the energy audits performed by the Industrial Assessment Centers, developing and disseminating information on industrial equipment and systems, and developing tools and resources for measuring the effectiveness of new technologies.

Financial assistance is funded at $5.1 million under the budget request. The funding will support the activities of Inventions & Innovation (I&I) and National Industrial Competitiveness through Energy, Environment, and Economics (NICE3).  I&I and NICE3 award cost-shared grants to inventors and industry-state technology partnerships that are working on new technologies to improve industrial energy efficiency.

For complete details, read the fiscal year 2003 budget request for the industry sector:
http://www.eren.doe.gov/budget/pdfs/fy03_industry_sector.pdf

To read the fiscal year 2003 EERE budget request highlights or the budget-in-brief, visit the EERE budget Web page: http://www.eren.doe.gov/budget