Friday, August 28, 2009

The Politics of Energy #16 - US Department of Energy awards nearly $300M for 25 cost-sharing alternative fuel projects


Associated Press

SEAL BEACH, Calif. - The U.S. Department of Energy has chosen 25 cost-sharing alternative-fuel projects to receive a total of nearly $300 million from funds allotted by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Energy secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday that these projects will "speed the transformation of the nation's vehicle fleet, putting more than 9,000 alternative-fuel and energy-efficient vehicles on the road, and establishing 542 refueling locations across the country."

The DOE estimates the projects will help reduce the nation's annual petroleum use by about 38 million gallons.

The program will fund a range of energy-efficient and other vehicle technologies, such as hybrids, electric vehicles, plug-in electric hybrids, hydraulic hybrids and compressed natural gas vehicles.

(Editor's Note: The projected gasoline savings of 38 million gallons represents .00274% of our annual gasoline usage of 140.5 billion gallons. Put another way, the subsidized cost for the first 38 million gallons is $7.89 a gallon.)

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