Department of Energy Releases New ‘Billion-Ton’ Study Highlighting Opportunities for Growth in Bioenergy Resources

(EERE News, August 10, 2011) The U.S. Department of Energy today released a report – 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry – detailing U.S. biomass feedstock potential nationwide. The report examines the nation’s capacity to produce a billion dry tons of biomass resources annually for energy uses without impacting other vital U.S. farm and forest products, such as food, feed, and fiber crops. The study provides industry, policymakers, and the agricultural community with county-level data and includes analyses of current U.S. feedstock capacity and the potential for growth in crops and agricultural products for clean energy applications. The biomass resources identified in the report could be used to produce clean, renewable biofuels, biopower, or bioproducts.  Click here to read more…

Department of Energy Considers New Venue for Solar Decathlon 2013

(EERE Network News, August 1, 2011) Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the Department of Energy is considering offers for a new site for Solar Decathlon 2013. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a competition that challenges collegiate students from across the globe to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are affordable, highly energy efficient, attractive, and easy to live in. For the first time, in an effort to expand the excitement generated by the competition and encourage participation from new communities, the Department is inviting venues across the nation to compete for the opportunity to host this award-winning event.  Click here to read more…

Wolf Says No-Growth Budget is Good News for NSF—and Lobbyists Agree

(Science, July 8, 2011) by Jeffrey Mervis Zero is starting to look like a pretty nice number to some U.S. scientists. Yesterday, a congressional spending subcommittee proposed holding next year’s budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) at its current level of $6.86 billion, in other words, zero increase. But instead of gnashing their teeth over the panel’s failure to back President Barack Obama’s request for a $907-million increase (13%), science lobbyists say they’re thrilled that legislators had “spared” NSF from the cuts made to other agencies in the $50-billion bill that funds NASA and science programs within the Department of Commerce as well as other federal agencies. Click here to read more…

Solar Research, Development Gains $10M in 2012 Budget

(Toledoblade.com, July 16, 2011) By Tom Troy, Blade Staff National investment in solar research and development would gain $10 million under an amendment to the proposed 2012 federal budget narrowly approved Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) authored the measure to add $10 million to the House Appropriations Committee’s budget of $166.1 million for solar research. That’s still about $87 million less than the government spent in the 2011 fiscal year, and it’s less than half of what President Obama requested for the 2012 fiscal year, her staff said. Click here to read more…

White House Takes Steps to Cut Red Tape

(The Hill, July 11, 2011) By Mike Lillis The Obama administration on Monday took new steps to scale back regulations that are thought to hinder business growth. By executive order, the White House asked a number of independent regulatory agencies — including the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to examine their existing rules and alter or eliminate those that are outdated, ineffective or simply not worth the cost of enforcing. Click here to read more…

Manufacturing Rebirth

(Chemical & Engineering News, July 4, 2011) By Susan J. Ainsworth To enhance U.S. global competitiveness, President Barack Obama has unveiled the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a national effort joining industry, academia, and the federal government to invest in emerging technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology. Leveraging existing programs and proposals, AMP will invest in building domestic manufacturing capabilities in critical national security industries, accelerating the development of advanced materials, establishing U.S. leadership in next-generation robotics, and developing the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes.  Click here to read more…

U.S. Patent Reform Survives a Shakedown in the House

(Science Insider, June 23, 2011) By Eliot Marshall A plan to make sweeping changes in the U.S. patent system passed the House of Representatives this afternoon by a vote of 304-117. The bill initially ran into trouble when House appropriations chiefs objected to its funding provisions, but backers came up with a compromise that enabled it to reach the House floor for a vote. Its approval improves the chances that Congress will approve patent reform legislation this year.  Click here to read more…

House Panel Tells Energy Department to Cull Underperforming Research Grants

(Science Insider, June 16, 2011) by Adrian Cho First, the silver lining for scientists: When the spending panel for the House of Representatives sliced $6 billion from the $30.7 billion budget requested for 2012 by the Department of Energy (DOE), it largely spared the agency’s science arm. The Office of Science would get $4.8 billion, $42 million less than it now receives, under the bill approved yesterday by the House Appropriations Committee.  Now, the worrisome cloud: Legislators want officials in the Office of Science’s largest research program to save $25 million by canceling the projects that aren’t meeting their research goals. Click here to read more…

HHS Gives Congress More Info on NIH Translational Center

(AAAS Science, June 8, 2011) by Jocelyn Kaiser The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week gave Congress more budget details for a proposed National Institutes of Health (NIH) reorganization that would create a center devoted to bench-to-bedside research. A key budget document is still pending, however, and whether Congress will approve the center in time for it to launch in October remains unclear.  The plan announced in December for a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) has raised concerns that NIH may be venturing too far into drug development.  Click here to read more…

House Passes $42.3B Homeland Security Funding Bill

(Fox News, June 2, 2011) Republicans focused the homeland security cuts on port and transit security grants, awards for high-risk cities, and grants to local fire departments to help them with salaries and equipment purchases, proposing to slash them by $2.1 billion below Obama’s requests — cuts of more than half. On Wednesday a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers restored $320 million in cuts to grants for fire departments by a sweeping 333-87 vote, but only by imposing an unrealistic cut on the agency’s bureaucratic operations. Click here to read more…

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