In his State of the Union Address for 2007, President George W. Bush called for a 22% increase in federal grants for research and development of alternative energy. However, in a speech he gave soon after, he said to those assembled, I recognize that there has been some interesting mixed signals when it comes to funding.
Where the mixed signals were coming from concerned the fact that at the same time the President was calling on more government backing for research and development, the NREL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colardo was laying off workers and contractors left and right.
Apparently, the Laboratory got the hint, because soon after the State of the Union Address, everyone was re-hired. The second speech of the President's was actually given at the NREL. There is almost unanimous public support for the federal backing through research grants, tax breaks, and other financial incentives of research and development of alternative energy sources.
The NREL is the nation's leading component of the National Bioenergy Center, a virtual center that has no central bricks and mortar office. The NREL's raison d'etre is the advancing of the US Department of Energy's and the United States' alternative energy objectives.
The laboratory's field researchers and staff scientists, in the words of Laboratory Director Dan Arvizu, support critical market objectives to accelerate research from scientific innovations to market-viable solutions. At the core of this strategic direction are NREL's research and technology development areas.
These areas span from understanding renewable resources for energy, to the conversion of these resources to renewable electricity and fuels, and ultimately to the use of renewable electricity and fuels in homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles. The federally-backed Laboratory directly helps along the United States' objectives for discovering renewable alternative fuels for powering our economy and our lifestyles.
The NREL is set up to have several areas of expertise in energy research and development. It spearheads research and development efforts into renewable sources of electricity; these would include such things as solar power, wind power, biomass power, and geothermal power.
It also spearheads research and development of renewable fuels for powering our vehicles such as biomass and biodiesel fuels and hydrogen fuel cells. Then, it seeks to develop plans for integrated system enginnering; this includes bringing alternative energy into play within buildings, electrical grids and delivery systems, and transportation infrastructures.
The Laboratory is also set up for strategic development and analysis of alternative energy objectives through the forces of economics, market analysis and planning, and alternative energy investment portfolios structurings.
The NREL is additionally equipped with a Technology Transfer Office. This Office supports laboratory scientists and engineers in the practical application of and ability to make a living from their expertise and the technologies they develop.
NREL's research and development staff and its facilities are recognized for their remarkable prowess by private industry, which is reflected in the hundreds of collaborative projects and licensed technologies that the Laboratory now has with both public and private partners.
A clean environment is one such area where almost all the state governments are promoting businesses to invest in research and develop cleaner environment friendly technology for use of consumers or other consumer industries. To promote this the state governments have specific bodies set up like in the state of Pennsylvania it is called the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority. If you need to check them out the website is the website of depweb from Pennsylvania state.
Most of the programs are focused towards helping businesses to invest in research and in turn expand the use of eco-friendly technologies which will help in saving energy costs, use alternatives, save the environment and also boost the economy.
Here is a look at the programs currently on offer in the State of Pennsylvania.
The total of $12.8 million is available for grants through the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA). Of this $11 million is for businesses and projects which are willing to relocate to the state and or have innovative or breakthrough projects for advanced energy. For those skeptics who say that grants are not there, here is some data to look at and ponder over. Beginning 2005, PEDA has given $31 million for projects that invest in clean technology projects.The name of the other two grants is Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants and the other one is Energy Harvest.
Along the same lines as Pennsylvania there are governments from the states of New York,Illinois,Massachussetts,North Carolina and a dozen other states that have institued the same models of grants and micro loans for the investment in cleaner environment technologies. Make sure that you visit the websites of each of the state governments to know more about these programs. Some require you move the businesses to their states and that can be a tricky situation for you. So evalaute your options and particpate in such programs.
In today's climate of ever changing aspects of energy rquirements,most of the governments are trying their best to improve the environment. Hence working for clean technology businesses is a priority for the goevrnments . Most governments have instituted a lot of special grants and loans for the companies that invest in newer fuel efficient businesses.
So before you think of applying for a grant make sure that you have gone through various states energy development programs and that may give that extra edge in your business.
Both Warren Peters & Amit Kheterpal are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Warren Peters has sinced written about articles on various topics from Environment, Anger Control and Horse Racing. Warren has been using alternative energy for years.Now he needs to share his expertise with the worldto help save the planet.Learn all about other energy sources here:. Warren Peters's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
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